Two desperate draft-dodgers were reportedly dumped by smugglers after their ruse was discovered
Two Ukrainians desperate to escape conscription pretended to be dead so they could get smuggled out of the country, the state border service in Kiev has announced.
Ukraine declared a general mobilization in February 2022, after the conflict with Russia escalated. Tens of thousands of men have since fled the country to avoid conscription, leaving the government to rely on press-gangs on the streets of major cities.
“Operatives of the Chop District border patrol uncovered an attempt to illegally smuggle two men of draft age across the Ukrainian-Slovak border,” the State Border Service (DPSU) said on Thursday.
According to the DPSU, two residents of Uzhgorod paid $18,000 to two traffickers to get them into Slovakia through a “most cynical” plan.
“They pretended to be part of a funeral procession that was accompanying the body of a fallen soldier to its burial place. The offenders even hung a national flag from the window of the car in which the border violators were being transported,” the DPSU said.
When agents attempted to stop the vehicle, the smugglers tried to run them over, while throwing their “cargo” out of the moving car, according to the authorities.
While the DPSU implied both the smugglers and their clients were detained, photos posted by the agency showed only three suspects.
The alleged smugglers face charges of both human trafficking and disobeying law enforcement orders, while the would-be draft dodgers have been referred to prosecutors for attempting to leave the country.
Under current Ukrainian law, men 25 and older can be mobilized into the military. However, all men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been banned from leaving the country. Ukrainian border patrols have stopped thousands of people trying to flee abroad, going as far as to shoot some of them. Others have perished trying to hike through the mountains or swim across rivers.
Inside the country, the Ukrainian military has been hunting down conscripts in the streets and in shopping malls and gyms, often resulting in violent confrontations.
