Men fearing conscription risk their lives trying to flee Ukraine

Ukraine is preparing new legislation to punish military-aged men who crossed the border illegally during the state of war, Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko said at the end of May. According to border police, more than 12,000 Ukrainian men had tried to exit the country unlawfully by the end of last year, seeking to escape conscription, as well as the war itself. Many have already lost their lives in the fighting, and some estimates put the life expectancy of a soldier at just four hours on the front line.

WORLD JUNE 3. 2023 18:05

Ukraine’s interior ministry is preparing a new draft legislation to punish all military-aged men who cross the border illegally during a state of war, including all those who flee abroad in a bid to avoid conscription.

Currently, there are no rules on how to prosecute those who travel abroad illegally, but details are being worked out and a final decision will be made after the war ends, Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko said. „We are talking about it now, and we are starting to study the international practice,” he said.

„How should we treat our citizens who have already broken the law once? They must be held accountable for breaking the law. I think this is what every citizen wants, and they will all understand if the state should further restrict the movement of these citizens, at least abroad,”

Mr Klimenko was quoted as saying by The New Voice of Ukraine, an English-language Ukrainian news portal.

Under Ukrainian law, men aged between 18 and 60 are banned from travelling abroad during a state of war, with certain exceptions.

According to Ukrainian border police, starting from the declaration of martial law

by the end of last year, more than 12,000 people had tried to leave Ukraine illegally, 15 of whom died.

Authorities have opened more than 2,100 criminal proceedings in connection with document fraud, illegal transport of persons and the evasion of draft. 950 people have been charged and more than 350 prosecuted. Police said that officers have found the bodies of 12 drowned people by the rivers along the Ukraine-Romania border, and they found an additional three bodies in the mountains.

However, according to the UNHCR, more than 8 million and 2 hundred thousand people have already fled Ukraine to Europe alone, including many men. Some have left the war-torn country legally, but many have broken the laws in force in a bid to escape conscription and the war.

The fact that so many are trying to avoid military service is understandable, because many have already lost their lives in the fighting. According to the latest information

around 124-131 thousand Ukrainians have fallen victim to the war, of which some 15-17 thousand died.

In recent months, the fiercest battles have unfolded around Bakhmut. The town recently fell under Russian control. Previously, a US soldier who fought there described the fighting by claiming that it was a real „meat grinder.”

As he said,

the average soldier on the front line in eastern Ukraine will live just four hours.

So, it is understandable why so many have fled Ukraine.

However, there is no data on how many in Ukraine are terrified of being conscripted any time, even forcibly, by soldiers grabbing them off the streets.

@wdmzjzse611 Ukraine, Australia, forced conscription everywhere.#Maybe #getcracking #Zelensky #People #We #Drone #The ♬ 原聲 – linken

Social media platforms have seen a number of uploaded videos showing how Ukrainian men are being forcibly snapped by soldiers, although the authenticity of these clips cannot be verified.

Nevertheless, the resistance of Ukrainians to conscription is not hard to understand, as grieving families are a regular occurrence at the cemeteries, and relatives keep receiving bad news every day about their loved ones fighting on the front line.

WORLD

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army, military, ukraine