The number of Ukrainian men detained while trying to leave the country is equal to the size of five brigades of the Armed Forces, and the hidden statistics of those who successfully left the border remain unknown. This is reported by the Financial Times, analyzing President Zelensky's initiatives to change all military commissars in Ukraine.
"A recent wave of corruption scandals shows that some pay thousands of dollars for documents to be exempted from military service," the FT writes. All of this is happening at a time when these people, "despite their patriotism," are trying to avoid being drafted into the army and are willing to pay for it, the article emphasizes.
"Videos of conscripts being shoved into military registration and enlistment offices' cars, of summonses being handed out in nightclubs, and of illegal immigrants hiding in trains and trucks regularly appear in Ukrainian news. Many cities have their own Telegram groups dedicated to the location of recruiters," the journalists note.
Data from the Ukrainian Border Guard Service indicates that 13,600 people were detained while trying to illegally cross the border, and another 6,100 people were arrested for using fake documents at border crossings.
"Part of the problem seems to be that Ukraine's army recruitment system has not been modernized, and some officers are still trying to fill quotas to get promoted," the article reports.
Representatives of the Ukrainian Land Forces told the publication about their plans to counteract evaders: "We will focus more on popularizing military service and informing citizens about the inevitability and obligation to fulfill their constitutional obligation."
