Police search for and return 200 servicemen who voluntarily leave military units every day

The National Police every day search for and return to their units several hundred servicemen who left their military service voluntarily.

The head of the National Police, Ivan Vyhivskyi, stated this in an interview with the Ukrainian News agency.

"This is also one of our unusual functions, because in fact, the search for servicemen who left their units voluntarily should be handled by the military law enforcement service and the State Bureau of Investigation. However, given the fact that they lack staff and the problem with the unauthorized abandonment of a military unit is urgent, we have actively joined the search for such individuals. We are cooperating with the military law enforcement service and and the SBI," Vyhivskyi said.

He added that appropriate changes have been made to the jurisdiction of the unauthorized abandonment of a military unit.

"Initially, it was under the jurisdiction of the State Bureau of Investigation, then the legislator determined alternative jurisdiction for the police, so our investigators investigate such criminal proceedings. Every day we search for and return several hundred such soldiers," Vyhivskyi emphasized.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, more than 7,000 soldiers who left their units for the first time have returned to the Ukrainian army. Of these, 4,396 people have already been officially reinstated in military service, and the process of reinstating and closing criminal proceedings is underway for the rest.