Since the start of the Russian invasion more than 18 months ago, Ukrainian border guards have prevented more than 20,000 Ukrainian conscripts from escaping. “In total, border guards have arrested around 14,600 people who wanted to leave Ukraine illegally since February 24 last year,” border guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko said on television yesterday. Additionally, around 6,200 men were caught with false exit permits.
Many Ukrainians try to avoid military service. The fugitives were detained on the “green border”, especially with Romania and Moldova, Demtschenko said. They are mainly men between 18 and 60 years old. Authorities had already announced that at least 19 men had drowned in the Tyssa River, which borders only Romania and Hungary. Several also froze to death while fleeing through the Carpathians.
At the beginning of the war, a general mobilization was ordered with a ban on the departure of men aged between 18 and 60 who were subject to military service. According to the EU statistics agency Eurostat, more than 650,000 Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 64 are registered as refugees in the 27 EU states and in Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Kiev is considering the extradition of recruits who left the country illegally, including from EU countries. The sale of documents for exemption from military service is flourishing in Ukraine. After a wave of raids and arrests at enlistment offices ordered by President Volodymyr Zelensky, the price of these documents is now more than 10,000 euros, according to the judiciary.