Ukrainian police on Friday launched a new crackdown on draft evasion gangs as the country struggles to secure enough conscripts to keep the military competitive in the war with Russia without significantly expanding conscription standards. A nationwide raid was carried out.
Ukraine's National Police says it has carried out “more than 200 searches” for gangs helping adult Ukrainian men, who are banned from leaving the country, illegally cross the border since the Russian invasion began in 2022. did. The search took place “on the premises of the person concerned.” Police said on Friday that “illegal transactions” took place in 19 of Ukraine's 27 regions.
The raids against draft-dodging gangs followed searches of 600 addresses last week, according to AFP news agency.
Ukraine's police said in a statement that draft evasion crimes are “committed through fraud, forgery of documents, unauthorized interference in the operation of electronic registers, bribery of officials, etc.”
Ukrainian police announce latest raid and release images, including one anonymized photo [top] Several police officers wearing “Cyber Police Department” patches on their coats accompanied armed officers from the National Police's special patrol unit wearing fatigues.
Ukraine has more than 1 million conscripts, but thousands of its citizens evade muster orders and registration in national databases. As previously reported in 2023, 20,000 men of military age are known to have illegally fled the country across the Ukrainian border by that time.
Ukraine's border guards later said they had captured another 21,000 people at the border and brought them back into the country. Many likely fled out of fear for their lives, but attempting to travel abroad is not without risks, and the Ukrainian government announced that in spring 2024, 30 people died trying to flee the country. He said he knew what he had done.
A government spokesperson said the deaths occurred while trying to escape from Ukraine by crossing dangerous mountain passes or swimming in border rivers, or in some cases by being attacked by wild animals, perhaps bears, in the wilderness. said. In that part of Europe. Some people reportedly froze to death while trying to cross the Carpathians.
A recent crackdown on draft evaders is claimed to be causing “panic” among draft evaders and the criminal organizations that support them. Even before this recent change in tactics, military personnel from “conscription squads” patrolled the streets of Ukrainian cities, checking men's identities to make sure their details were entered into a national database or that their muster papers had been sent. I checked to see if he was a fugitive. .
In 2024, men will dragged out of Kiev nightclub Failed to produce identification or proof of draft exemption during overnight raids on restaurants, stores, and music venues. British broadcaster BBC noticed At the wedding of a young Ukrainian couple, half of the guests did not attend because they were hiding from the draft and felt it was too dangerous to attend, but said: So are weekend trips to restaurants, the supermarket, and the park to play soccer. ”
The broadcast quoted a conscript officer as saying of the people he was rounding up at the station: what are they waiting for? If there are not enough people, the enemy will come to their homes, rape their women and kill their children. ”
Failure to do so may result in criminal prosecution. However, as reported, Ukrainian news outlets this weekCourts occasionally take lenient views. A Poltava man was sent summons papers but ignored them for a year after a judge ruled he had an elderly mother who depended on his care. Because he pointed out that he had a young child, he was released on a one-year suspended sentence. , and regularly donated funds to the military.
Ukraine last year lowered the minimum age for military conscription from 27 to 25, a difficult and unpopular decision that the government resisted in order to avoid a postwar demographic crisis at the risk of the deaths of future generations of parents. It was. The average age of Ukrainian soldiers is in their 40s.
In Ukraine, groups of wives, mothers and children have been protesting against the fact that military conscription is indefinite and will continue throughout the conflict. Demonstrators say they want their men back and are calling for the reinstatement of the prewar standard 18-month muster period.
