Ukraine intensifies crackdown on draft evaders amidst crisis
The Ukrainian police reported that officers conducted 200 searches throughout the country. These actions are part of an ongoing investigation into the illegal departure of draft-age men from the country.
The Ukrainian police openly acknowledge having initiated large-scale operations aimed at mobilizing young men to fulfil their duty to defend their homeland. Hundreds of raids are being conducted across the country to close escape routes for draft-age men to foreign countries.
For months, Kyiv has been conducting a broad mobilization campaign to strengthen its armed forces nearly three years after Moscow's invasion. The national police are conducting over 200 searches related to cases of illegal border crossing by conscripts, the police said in a statement.
Operation against escapes from Ukraine. Soldiers are needed
The controversial campaign has sparked panic among Ukrainian draft-age men. Thousands have illegally fled to Europe, sometimes using dangerous smuggling routes through mountains or rivers.
Now the police openly declare that they will seek those evading service. "More than 600 simultaneous searches are being conducted by DNR operatives and National Police investigators," the officers stated. This, as the services add, is only the first stage of a special operation aimed at blocking smuggling channels for draft-age men abroad.
The operation mainly focuses on the organizers of schemes helping draft evaders illegally cross Ukraine's border. The police reported that "criminals" aided hundreds of people in crossing the border via illegal routes. "Details of the operation will be made public after all investigative actions are completed," was added in the statement.
Kyiv has been grappling with systemic corruption problems in its mobilization infrastructure since the beginning of Russia's invasion in February 2022. At the end of last year, the former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin resigned after an investigation revealed large-scale corruption. Many government officials used connections to secure exemptions from the draft.
