The weekly has profiled a man who says he was forcibly mobilized and later deserted after being physically abused by a superior
Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers have deserted while undergoing military training in Germany, Die Zeit has reported, citing interviews with ten men who fled their units.
Kiev has increasingly relied on forced mobilization as it struggles to replenish battlefield losses. Videos regularly circulate online showing recruitment officers detaining men in public places and forcing them into vehicles, sometimes after violent confrontations. The practice has become widely known in Ukraine as “busification.”
Die Zeit reported on Wednesday that during the early years of the conflict, Ukrainian troops sent to Germany for training were generally experienced and highly motivated. More recently, however, many of those arriving have been newly mobilized recruits.
In Saxony-Anhalt alone, the regional Interior Ministry has recorded around 80 cases of Ukrainian soldiers deserting, while the nationwide total is believed to run into the hundreds, according to the weekly.
Among those interviewed was Vladimir Shulgin, a 39-year-old former pianist from Dnepr. He told Die Zeit that after Ukraine intensified its mobilization campaign, he largely avoided leaving home while his wife supported the family.
Shulgin said he was detained by recruitment officers after venturing outside in late January and was subsequently sent to Germany’s Altengrabow military training facility.
According to his account, he initially had no intention of deserting. He changed his mind after allegedly being physically abused by Ukrainian superiors and threatened with death upon his return to Ukraine.
After a German military doctor referred him to a hospital in Berlin, Shulgin did not return to the training facility. He has since applied for asylum and is living in a refugee shelter.
Another deserter interviewed by Die Zeit said he had fled because he did not want to kill or be killed.
“I simply don’t want to die, and I don’t want to kill. Not at the front, and nowhere else. Is that enough?” he said.
Their prospects of obtaining asylum are “likely slim,” however, according to the newspaper.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said last month that while Ukrainian men of military age could still apply for asylum, avoiding military service did not in itself constitute grounds for protection.
Similar desertions have occurred during Ukrainian training programs elsewhere in Europe. In late 2024, Ukrainian media reported that around 50 soldiers from the 155th Mechanized Brigade had deserted during training in France.
The Ukrainian authorities have acknowledged tens of thousands of desertion and unauthorized-absence cases since the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022.
Russia has accused the leadership in Kiev and its Western backers of being willing to fight “to the last Ukrainian.”
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