Do not want to fight

Border guards prevent 20 Ukrainians from fleeing

Many people in Ukraine are tired of the war.(Bild: AP/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian border guards have prevented 20 conscripted men in western Ukraine from fleeing the war-torn country across the green border. They were apparently left behind by their escape helpers, although the refugees had paid a lot of money for their services.

According to a statement, 13 conscripts were picked up in a forest near the border with the Republic of Moldova. The men, who came from various Ukrainian regions, had each paid an escape helper the equivalent of over 1800 euros. However, they had been abandoned by him.

According to another report, seven other men were also prevented from fleeing to Romania in the neighboring region of Bukovina. They had each paid their local escape helper the equivalent of between 4600 and over 9200 euros for his services.

Border guards come across a body
Border guards in the Transcarpathian region also found a drowned man in the border river Tisza on the Hungarian border. According to official figures, this was the 35th person to drown in the river on the Ukrainian side since the start of the war. According to media reports, a group of 18 men managed to escape to neighboring Hungary in the same area. A border guard drone only discovered a minibus that had been left behind and a hole in the border fence.

Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for over two years. Martial law has been imposed in the country and a ban on conscripted men aged between 18 and 60 leaving the country has been ordered with the mobilization. Due to high casualties, the army is constantly in need of new soldiers. In mid-May, stricter rules for conscription came into force.

Many do not want to fight
There are new video recordings of forced recruitment and conflicts with army recruiters on an almost daily basis. Most recently, a brawl between ambulance drivers and uniformed personnel at a district army replacement office in Odessa in southern Ukraine caused a nationwide stir. Despite being banned from leaving the country, tens of thousands of conscripted Ukrainians have already fled across the green border to safety abroad using forged documents.