Ukrainian deserter George said that the river that separates Ukraine and Romania was shallower than one might think, and he rather crossed than swam to the side of the neighboring country, writes BBC.
George is a tall man with gentle features. His and other Ukrainians’ names have been changed to protect their identities.
His first night in the trenches was a nightmare. It was in March of last year, a month after the start of the war. At this time, of all those who were at that particular place on the frontline, only George and one woman are among the living.
It took weeks and several thousand euros to get from the war zone to the relatively peaceful western border of Ukraine.
Enforcing conscription in Ukraine tends to be difficult, and corruption is one of the biggest problems acknowledged by the authorities. Meanwhile, the commanders fighting on the front line ask not to send men who do not want to or are too scared to go to war. They are an unnecessary burden in a difficult situation.
The Ukrainian army stops cars every ten kilometers along the Tisa to look for deserters. Its database, which was chaotic at the beginning of the war, is improving every day, the BBC reports.
Ukrainian border guards report that they detain around 20 men every day.
The BBC has approached the Ukrainian armed forces for comment on the extent of desertion.
Meanwhile, Romanian migration authorities report that 6,200 Ukrainians have crossed the 600-kilometer-long border illegally since the start of the war. Another 20 thousand entered Romania conditionally legally – both with a valid reason and by paying bribes for issuing the justification.
According to unofficial data from the Ukrainian side, within 15 months,
around 90 men have died crossing the border – either drowning in the Tisa or freezing to death in the mountains.
Dima pulls off his sock to show his right foot. It looks like a round, pink club. He froze his fingers when he went through the mountains to Romania; one of his group of four men died in the mountains.
The men the BBC met are mostly from the ethnic Romanian minority who live in western Ukraine. However, information obtained by the media shows that desertion is widespread throughout Ukraine. Part of the border between Ukraine and Romania runs through a mountain range. On the Romanian side, the climb is almost vertical. It was there that, trying to get down, Dima lost his balance and fell, losing his boots, phone, and one of his socks. Romanian rescue services, alerted by Dima’s wife, found him after four days and three nights in the mountains.
When asked what he would say if someone called him a coward, Dima awkwardly answers:
“I have no country. I just have a family.”
In the large, relatively affluent Baia Mare near the Ukrainian border, the BBC meets Veronika. She left her job in Zaporizhzhia and went to Romania with her son. It was just before his 18th birthday. Veronika points out, that her son is smart, but isn’t very strong.
Just like George and Dima, Veronika also has no idea when it will be possible to return to Ukraine.
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