At least 100 draft dodgers try to flee Ukraine daily — official

World June 23, 3:42

Calculations take into account "only those who are detained or reported by border guards from neighboring countries"

MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. Ukraine’s border guards unveiled their approximate statistics on draft dodgers, saying that over a hundred of them are attempting to leave the country every day, the country's Unian news agency said.

The agency quoted border control official Igor Matveychuk as saying that "more than 100 draft dodgers make attempts to flee the country every day."

"This includes those why try to leave via border crossing points and those who try to bypass them," Matveychuk added.

However, he said that these calculations take into account "only those who are detained or reported by border guards from neighboring countries."

In his words, the majority of draft dodgers are caught when trying to flee.

Ukraine announced a general mobilization in February 2022, which it has extended periodically ever since, with the country’s authorities doing their utmost to prevent men of conscription age from dodging the draft, including a ban on male residents of Ukraine from leaving the country. Men are trying to leave the country by all means, often risking their lives. On May 18, a law tightening mobilization rules came into force in Ukraine, allowing hundreds of thousands more Ukrainians to be called up into the army.

The country's President Vladimir Zelensky conceded on May 31 that mobilization picked up pace after the law came into force. The number of cases of forceful mobilization has also increased, and discussions of incidents of abuse of power by military recruitment officers are becoming ever more frequent.

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