The war is unbearable, in general: Zelensky on desertion in the army

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spoken out about cases of unauthorized abandonment of military units and desertion, which has increased during the war.

He said this in an interview with Ukrainian Radio on November 16.

When asked by a journalist that the military probably decide to take this step, i.e., go to the AFU because of "unbearable conditions of service," Zelensky answered the following:

"There are different brigades, different training, different morale of the military. In general, it is very difficult to talk about this. The conditions are unbearable, for example, in a brigade that is, perhaps incorrectly, ideal, but in comparison, normal training, selection, psychological conversations, and where there is a good atmosphere among the main staff, and even in such brigades there are moments of desertion, because it is war, it is time, there is fatigue, there is a person who is afraid. There are different examples, but we cannot say that the conditions in this brigade are unbearable - it is unfair to say that. The war is unbearable in general," he said.

At the same time, the President assured that most Ukrainian defenders are "heroic people who understand what mobilization is and what the war for Ukraine is."

By the way, the founder of the festival "ForkFest" in Odesa region, and now a soldier, Serhiy Gnezdilov, announced that he had gone AWOL from his unit in protest against the uncertainty of the mobilization.

The soldier from Odesa region also left the location of the military unit where the unit was located without permission. The court imprisoned him.

In addition, in Mykolaiv, a court sentenced a soldier of the Armed For ces of Ukraine for unauthorized abandonment of a military unit. The accused went home without the knowledge of his superiors, where he spent two months repairing a house damaged by shelling. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison for this.