The Ukrainian Border Guard will have direct access to the personal data of all Ukrainian men who are eligible for compulsory military service and are therefore eligible to fight in the war against Russia. This will further enable border guards to stop citizens from fleeing the country, reports Hungarian-language Ukrainian website Kárpáti Igaz Szó. The authorities will be able to determine very quickly whether someone is carrying false documents or not, said Andriy Demchenko, spokesman of the Border Guard, stating that the new plans are currently in their test phase.
Conscripts fleeing Ukraine have made the headlines in the last couple of months, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promising to crack down on corrupt officials who assist men in evading mobilisation. As The European Conservative reported, Yevhen Borisov, head of the agency that oversees mobilisation and conscription efforts in the southern Odesa oblast, was arrested at the end of July for accepting bribes in return for exempting some would-be soldiers from mobilisation.
Zelensky acknowledged that other recruitment offices had also been affected by corruption, and vowed to put conscription into the hands of reliable people who understand the importance of defending Ukraine, “who had first-hand experience of war, maybe even lost one of their limbs, but not their dignity.” The president signed a decree last week firing all the heads of regional recruitment offices. At the same time, Ukraine’s defence ministry launched a campaign, urging military-age citizens to update their data at army enlistment offices and “overcome their fear.”
August 24th will mark eighteen months since the start of the war, and the government is keen on making advances in a counteroffensive to retake occupied territory from Russia, especially with the number of possible recruits running out. The New York Times last week cited U.S. officials as saying close to 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded—far higher than the figures disclosed by the Ukrainian government.
Volodymyr Zelensky announced a general mobilisation after Russia’s invasion, and military reservists between the ages of 18 and 60 are eligible for conscription. Fathers of more than three children, people with disabilities, and those working in strategically important jobs are exempt from the draft. But reports from last year of enthusiasm, and Ukrainian men even going home to join the fight, are now being overshadowed by almost daily reports of men attempting to flee the country and evade conscription. Some of them try to cross to neighbouring countries illegally, climbing over barbed wire fences, or paying smugglers; others leave via border stations with false ID documents or medical reports usually obtained by bribing officials. It is believed that tens of thousands of Ukrainian men have left the country illegally since the full-scale war with Russia started.
The feeling of embitterment among many men has only strengthened with viral videos circulating on social media showing recruitment officers rounding up men, bundling them into vans, and handing out draft notices at seemingly random places. According to news reports, some men prefer to stay at home to avoid being detected altogether.
