Ukrainian Border Guard: 20000 people intercepted while fleeing, evading military service
According to a report on the website of German news television channel on September 6, Ukrainian men of military service age have been prohibited from leaving the country since the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Nevertheless, some people still try to do so. The Ukrainian border forces have released data for the first time: 20000 people were intercepted while fleeing.
It is reported that since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Ukrainian border guards have prevented more than 20000 male servicemen from escaping. "Since February 24th last year, the border forces have arrested approximately 14600 individuals attempting to illegally leave Ukraine," said Andrey Jemchenko, a spokesperson for the border forces, on television. In addition, approximately 6200 men holding false exit permits have been arrested.
Many Ukrainians are trying to evade military service. Jemchenko stated that the fugitives were mainly intercepted at the "green border" with Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Among them are mainly males aged 18 to 60.
At the beginning of the war, Ukraine issued a general mobilization and banned military service men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country. However, according to Eurostat data, over 650000 male Ukrainian refugees aged 18 to 64 were registered in 27 EU countries as well as Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.
According to reports, Kiev is considering extraditing illegally departing conscripts primarily from EU countries. The sales of Ukrainian military service exemption documents are booming. The judicial authorities stated that the price of such documents has currently exceeded 10000 euros.
Zelensky announced at the end of August that the relevant departments would review all cases of so-called health reasons leading to being eliminated from the military. He claimed that someone had paid a maximum of 13700 euros in bribes for exemption from military service.