Since the start of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian State Border Guard has prevented more than 20 000 of its men from fleeing the country and military service, as reported by a representative of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Andrii Demchenko on Tuesday, the 5th of September.
“Since February of last year border guards have detained approximately 14 000 people who attempted to illegally leave Ukraine,” Demchenko said during a TV interview.
Many Ukrainians are fleeing military service. Most are caught in “the green zone” bordering Romania and Moldova. These are mostly men aged between 18 to 60 years, said Demchenko. Another 6 200 were caught using fake travel permits.
Previously Ukrainian authorities reported at least 19 people drowned in the Tisa River, which separates Ukraine from Romania and Hungary.
There were also reports of people freezing to death, attempting to cross Carpathian Mountains.
Following the start of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine announced general mobilisation and prohibited those subject to conscription from leaving the country.
According to data from Eurostat for 27 member states, Norway, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, there are more than 650 000 Ukrainian men aged 18 to 64 registered there as refugees. Kyiv is now working on ways to have EU member states return those subject to conscription back to Ukraine.
Back in Ukraine, however, the underground document-forging business in full swing, offering residents documents to avoid conscription. The price of such a document already reaches EUR 10 000, according to sources in the Ukrainian legal system.
As of the 11th of August, following the decree of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, all regional regional war commissioners – the officials responsible for conscripting citizens to the military in regions – are dismissed. According to him, he made this decision following accusations of corruption. He said this is close to treason. The Ukrainian president said that there are already 112 criminal proceedings involving officials of military recruitment centres.
Also read: Refugee asylum claims in the EU is soaring