60,000 people left the camp this year alone.Ukraine's military shortages are serious.

The British Financial Times (FT) reported on the 1st local time that 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers have defected from the battlefield this year, as the war in Ukraine has continued for two years and 10 months.

According to reports, Ukrainian prosecutors have charged about 60,000 soldiers who broke away from their duties in the January-October period this year.

Under Ukrainian law, a conviction could lead to up to 12 years in prison, but desertions followed.

The 60,000 is nearly double the number of deserters in the two-year period from 2022, the first year of the war, to 2023, the following year, the newspaper noted.

There are about 1 million Ukrainian troops, but only 350,000 active service members.A

military official said most of the deserters were fighters and personnel, including infantry and stormtroopers.

As desertion surged, Ukraine's parliament decided on April 21 to exempt "first offenders" who returned to the unit after desertion through a rule change.

160,000 additional troops will be drafted over the next three months to replenish Ukraine's forces.

In late October, hundreds of infantry from the 123rd Brigade stationed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Buhledar abandoned their positions and returned to their homes in Mykolaiv.

Some of them openly protested, saying they needed more weapons and training.

An officer from the 123rd Brigade, who asked not to be named, said, "We arrived with only an automatic rifle (in Vuhledar). They (command) said there would be 150 tanks, but there were only 20...There was no place to hide myself at all," he said.

According to local authorities, some of the 123 Brigade deserters have returned to the front lines, the rest are in hiding, and a few remain in pretrial detention.

Intelligent desertion methods are also being identified.Some are fleeing the training ground after taking the opportunity to participate in allied overseas training camps after men of service age in

were banned from leaving the country.

According to Polish officials, about 12 people desert like this every month, the FT said.

This surge in deserters is exacerbating Ukraine's already on the defensive.

Since this summer, Russia has stepped up its tactical offensive based on its manpower superiority and has been quickly increasing its occupation on Ukraine's eastern frontline.

Ukraine, which has been outnumbered, has been unable to get tired soldiers back to the rear in time due to delayed recruitment, leading to a vicious cycle in which skilled soldiers lose their lives in extreme fatigue, military experts noted.