MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. Ukrainian border guards have detained several men attempting to cross the border into Romania purportedly for their grandmother’s funeral, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported.

According to the agency, the guards stopped a vehicle at one of the checkpoints in the Transcarpathian Region with its driver claiming he was taking his passengers to a funeral of an elderly woman. "The passengers did not provide any evidence of the fact of the grandmother’s 'death' showing funeral wreaths as proof. However, they did not know either the name or the address of their relative," the agency said on its Telegram channel.

The border guards found out that the passengers paid the driver $2,000 each to be taken to Romania. "The funeral story was concocted by transport operators," the Border Guard Service clarified.

A general mobilization was announced in Ukraine in February 2022 and has been extended several times since then, with the authorities doing everything possible so that draft age men cannot evade military service. In particular, Ukrainian men are prohibited from traveling abroad and call-up orders are being handed out at government offices when people seek public services, as well as on the streets and at any place where large numbers of people gather. According to media reports, many Ukrainian men literally shun leaving their homes for months on end to avoid encounters with recruiters, and some of them attempt to cross the border illegally, using camouflage or disguising themselves as animals.