(MENAFN) The Ukrainian armed forces are confronting a significant desertion issue, according to Sergey Filimonov, the commander of the elite 108th Separate Assault Battalion, also known as the ‘Da Vinci Wolves’.

In a Wednesday post on X, Filimonov asked his followers how shocked they “would be if I told you that another newly formed brigade is being put together from the ranks of the 150th? Which, at the stage of formation, already has about 3,000 AWOL?”

Last Friday, The Telegraph’s writer Owen Matthews suggested that “perhaps as many as 20,000 [Ukrainian service members] desert or go absent every four weeks.”

The report noted that since the conflict intensified in February 2022, Ukrainian authorities have opened 290,000 criminal investigations related to desertion.

Matthews also asserted that Kiev’s military could be short by 200,000 troops from the minimum required to resist Russian offensives.

The journalist referenced several current and former Ukrainian officers who complained that frontline units are functioning at only half or even a third of their necessary manpower.

Additionally, The Telegraph reported last week that nearly 100,000 young men left Ukraine after the government permitted men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border in August.

Previously, under Ukraine’s general mobilization, all able-bodied men aged 18 to 60 were prohibited from leaving the country.

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