Almost 50 thousand men tried to illegally leave Ukraine – SBGS
21 May 21:48
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, border guards have prevented nearly 50,000 men subject to military service from illegally crossing the border of Ukraine. This was reported by the spokesman for the State Border Guard Service, Andriy Demchenko, in a commentary for hromadske, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to him:
- about 26 thousand people were detained while trying to cross the “green” section of the border;
- another 19 thousand – at checkpoints and control points in the border areas;
- approximately 4 thousand people were detained while trying to illegally cross through official checkpoints.
In addition, since the beginning of martial law, nearly 900 criminal groups have been exposed for smuggling people abroad.
A day earlier, MP Yulia Yatsyk reported that, according to the TSC, 44,900 people have illegally crossed the border since 2022. The SBGS clarified that this is not the number of those who managed to leave, but the statistics of those detained – 26,000 at the “green line” and 19,000 at checkpoints. Only the border services of other countries can know the true number of those who did leave the country.
“We do not deny that some people managed to leave illegally. That is why we are cooperating with the border guards of neighboring countries to respond jointly,” explained Demchenko.
Yatsyk also pointed to the problem of the lack of a clear list of documents that border guards must check. According to her, decisions are often made individually. The State Border Guard Service assures that they act in accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolutions, and border guards follow the established rules.
