More than 49,000 people were arrested in Ukraine for trying to flee the country illegally, crossing the border from the beginning of the martial law imposed in 2022 due to the Russian invasion, the border guards service reported on Wednesday 21 on Wednesday.
Ukrainian men from 18 to 60 are prohibited from abandoning their country, with some exceptions. Those who want to escape from military mobilization cross the border illegally, sometimes at the risk of their lives.
“Since February 24, 2022, around 45,000 Ukrainian citizens, men aged 18 to 60, have been arrested by the National Border Guard Service” while trying to leave the country secret, said their spokesman, Andriï DemTchenko.
4,000 “additional people arrested
“Almost 4,000” were also arrested for trying to cross the border through legal crossing points but “using false documents,” said the manager.
Most of the Ukrainians who try to flee cross the western region of transcarpatia, covered with mountains and forests, a porous border area of Romania and Hungary, which for a long time has been in the center of several traffic.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, kyiv has been trying to fight the networks of illegal smuggers.
In January, the Ukrainian police announced that they had made “more than 600 searches” to arrest the organizers who helped “hundreds of men” cross the border illegally.
Examined with scandals, the military mobilization system is highly criticized in Ukraine and is considered widely considered ineffective, corrupt and unfair, which pushed President Volodymyr Zelensky to rule out all regional officials responsible for the mobilization.
Source: BFM TV
