SZCH will prohibit the choice of brigade: “You cannot choose a place at will”

Servicemen who recently returned after leaving a military unit will no longer have the opportunity to choose which unit they want to transfer to for further service. This decision is due to the need to avoid the disorderly movement of personnel between different military units.

Military Ombudsman Olga Reshetylova said this in an interview, emphasizing that now it is not possible to freely choose a new place of service. Olga explained that at some point, moving between units became a common occurrence, which led to chaotic movements.

According to the Ombudsman, some units even used this situation to attract experienced fighters, offering detailed instructions on how to legally transfer to them.

She also noted that such cases complicated planning at different levels of military command, since it was not possible to accurately predict the number of personnel in specific units or at the front.

Olga clarified that servicemen who return after leaving their units are not automatically sent to assault units. The question is whether these individuals are released in accordance with the needs of the army and the priorities of manning the units.

She gave an example that at a certain point the priority was the 225th, 425th or 210th assault regiments, but when the new 160th brigade was being formed, soldiers were sent to it.

The problem of unauthorized abandonment of units remains an important challenge for the army, but the government is gradually implementing the necessary solutions. Recently introduced amendments to the legislation allowed the return of servicemen who have voluntarily left their units for the first time.

It was previously reported that some officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine drew attention to the fact that desertion and unauthorized abandonment of units are often caused by other factors. In addition, the conditions in which servicemen are held, as well as new steps to identify draft evaders, were discussed.