According to the agency, more than 25,000 russian servicemen from the Central Military District have fled over the past nine months. Those who refuse to take part in "meat assaults" are reportedly executed on the spot by their commanders.
The information was published on the official the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine page.
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Between November 2024 and July 2025, over 25,000 soldiers and officers from russia's Central Military District abandoned their units without authorization, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
Desertion takes various forms: some russians flee their positions directly on the battlefield, others disappear from permanent bases, and some simply fail to return from leave or hospital stays.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine also reported cases where troops escaped with weapons or even combat vehicles — more than 30 such incidents were documented in 2024–2025 alone.
Ukrainian intelligence attributes this mass desertion to catastrophic service conditions, systemic hazing and abuse, lack of basic supplies, and the widespread use of "meat assaults", where soldiers are thrown into battle with no chance of survival.
In internal reports of russian occupation forces, a separate category of death causes has appeared — "failure to execute an order."
"Over the past year, more than 30 such cases have been documented. This effectively means that commanders are systematically executing their own troops for refusing to die for the Kremlin’s ambitions," the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine concluded.
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