Almost 50,000 draft-age men detained trying to illegally cross border since 2022, Border Guard says

Around 49,000 draft-age men have been detained at border areas and checkpoints while trying to illegally cross Ukraine's border since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine's State Border Guard Service, said on May 21.

Ukraine prohibits men aged 18-60 from leaving the country under martial law, which was instituted at the outbreak of Russia's full-scale war in 2022.

Illegal border crossing schemes deepen the manpower shortages facing the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which then struggle to hold back the Russian advance at the front.

Nearly 45,000 individuals were detained in terrain-based border areas or at checkpoints along the border, while another 4,000 attempted to cross the border using fake documents and other illegal methods, according to the State Border Guard Service.

Speaking on air on national television, Demchenko clarified that the figures refer only to the period of martial law in Ukraine.

The State Border Guard Service actively cooperates with border guards from neighboring countries and the EU to jointly counter attempts to illegally cross the border, as the number of such cases has "significantly increased" since the beginning of martial law, the spokesperson added.

In January, the National Police uncovered nearly 50 schemes for draft-age Ukrainian men to illegally cross the border, charging 60 suspects.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko admitted last June that dozens of men try to illegally cross the border every day, but Ukrainian authorities have largely avoided providing exact figures.