About 80 Ukrainian soldiers defected during training in Germany

About 80 Ukrainian servicemen training in Germany have not returned to their military unit after completing their training, according to an investigation by Die Zeit.

In Saxony-Anhalt alone, there have been about 80 desertions, and the figure for Germany as a whole could be in the hundreds.

Since 2022, about 29,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained in shooting, camouflage, first aid and other basic skills at about 60 facilities in Germany. The German Ministry of Defense has confirmed that some soldiers have “arbitrarily left” their training sites, but no general statistics are kept for the entire country.

According to Ukrainian law, desertion is considered desertion and can be punishable by imprisonment. However, the chances of the defected soldiers being tried in a Ukrainian court are slim. At the same time, they cannot automatically receive the simplified status granted to Ukrainian refugees in Germany, since they did not come to the country as civilians fleeing the war.

Some of them may try to stay in Germany through the asylum procedure. To do this, they must prove that they would be in danger or threatened with persecution if they returned to Ukraine. According to Die Zeit, the chances of receiving asylum are considered low, but the process itself can take a year or more.