"What crime did I commit? I had family problems!" exclaimed Kosjantyn, who deserted his post in the Ukrainian army. "By the way," he added, "it's a crime that I never received rehab or compensation when I was wounded!"

Kosjantyn is just one of the roughly 21,000 Ukrainian soldiers classified as deserters who voluntarily returned to military service in March to avoid legal punishment.

The deadline for returning was set for early March. At the start of the year, Ukraine had registered about 123,000 investigations into soldiers going absent without leave (AWOL) or deserting their units.

The number of soldiers leaving their posts grew so high in 2023 and 2024 that investigators couldn't keep up, completing inquiries into only about 7% of cases.

That led to the tacit acceptance of a deal in which authorities promised not to prosecute deserters as long as commanders could convince them to return to duty.

The deal was enacted into law in the fall of 2024, when parliament made it possible for draft dodgers and deserters to report back to the army for duty as a way of avoiding prosecution.

Ukraine's laws were changed in December, giving soldiers until January 1, 2025, to comply. The deadline was then extended until March.

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"My name's Jewhen. I'm a soldier in........

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