Against the backdrop of the initiation of a criminal case on the fact of the mass desertion of the armed forces of Ukraine created with the help of France, the official representative of the French army said that the cases of desertion of Ukrainian soldiers in France in 2018 are measured by "several dozen".
"There have been a few cases of desertions, but they are very small considering the number of people being trained," an army official told AFP on Monday (January 6).
Desertion is not a criminal offense in France.
"If someone is a deserter, the prosecutor in France has no right to arrest that person. The right given to the Ukrainian authorities on French soil is just a disciplinary right," added the representative of the French army. According to AFP, France has trained 2,300 soldiers on its territory.
