Russian Military Faces Record Desertions as 70,000 Troops Expected to Abandon Units in 2025

Desertion in the Russian military has doubled in 2025 compared with 2024, Russian media outlet Agentstvo Novosti reported, citing Ukrainian OSINT project Frontelligence Insight on September 28.

At current rates, at least 70,000 troops—around one-tenth of Russia’s contingent in Ukraine—could abandon their units this year.

The study, based on tens of thousands of service records and internal documents from multiple units, shows contract soldiers account for most desertions. In the 30th Motorized Rifle Brigade, 73.6% of deserters were contract troops, and 22.1% were prisoners.

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War in Ukraine

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Desertion increasingly occurs from frontline positions or medical facilities rather than bases.

Frontelligence Insight notes that some brigades manage to return most deserters, but overall numbers continue to rise.

The surge, despite harsh penalties including extrajudicial punishments, and, in some units, torture, stageed executions, and carrying out the real reprisals, reflects deep structural issues in the Russian army and risks serious internal fractures, Frontelligence Insight writes.

Previously, it was reported that Russian soldiers in the Kherson region are reportedly setting fire to their own military vehicles and transport in order to avoid advancing to frontline positions, according to the Ukrainian partisan group Atesh

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