MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/. Forty Ukrainians have died while trying to swim across the River Tisza to escape the country since February 2022 when general mobilization was declared in Ukraine, Ukrainian State Border Service spokesman Andrey Demchenko told the Den. Live YouTube channel.
According to Demchenko, draft dodgers trying to get out of Ukraine swim across other border rivers as well but the Tisza accounts for the majority of fatalities.
The most popular routes to flee Ukraine run across the borders with Moldova and Romania, where draft evaders have to pay guides from $3,000 to $12,000, up to $18,000, the spokesman noted.
The State Border Service said a week ago that up to 100 draft-age men try to escape the country every week, and this is only the number who are caught or reported by border services of the neighboring countries.
General mobilization was announced in Ukraine in February 2022 and has been extended several times since, with the authorities doing everything possible so that draft-age men cannot evade military service. According to the Ukrainian media, many men now choose not to leave their homes for months or flee the country, legally or illegally, out of fear of being forcibly dragooned into the army and sent to the combat zone.