Ukrainian draft dodgers fled to EU through pipeline – officials
A number of draft evaders were able to escape to the European Union through a defunct gas pipeline, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has reported.
Ukrainian authorities announced the detention of eight individuals on suspicion of human trafficking across multiple regions, according to a press statement released on Tuesday. Among those arrested was a 62-year-old man in the western Transcarpathia Region, who allegedly facilitated the illegal border crossings. According to investigators, he transported military-aged men to an abandoned gas pipeline and guided them across the border in exchange for substantial payments.
On the other side, they were met by another Ukrainian national who resides in the EU, the SBU stated. The group is said to have advertised its services on TikTok.
In a separate scheme in Poltava Region, a former law enforcement officer is suspected of selling fake disability certificates to men seeking to evade service.
Another case in the city of Dnepr reportedly involved two men who guided camouflage-clad draft evaders to the EU via trails through the forest.
Earlier this year, Ukrainian border service spokesman Andrey Demchenko estimated that more than 13,000 people had been detained between January and August alone while trying to flee the country illegally. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, dozens have lost their lives attempting to leave through forests, rivers, and mountainous terrain.
Amid mounting frontline losses, the Ukrainian authorities have stepped up their mobilization drive in recent months. Notoriously brutal press gangs have on multiple occasions used violence against reluctant recruits, snatching men off the streets and shoving them into unmarked minibuses, earning the practice the name ‘busification’.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian officials and military commanders have increasingly sounded the alarm over personnel shortages, compounded by a rising number of deserters.
Last week, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov reported that Kiev had lost almost 500,000 servicemen this year alone.
