MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Ukrainian border guards have detained an exceptionally large group of draft dodgers trying to flee to Hungary, the Ukrainian State Border Service said.

"Border guards stopped two minivans not far from the border. The minivans were carrying 38 men, a record number of border violators," the service said on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist). "There were men from 11 regions of Ukraine. The organizers of the illegal trip expected to get $4,500 to $8,500 from their clients," the border guards added.

In February 2022, Ukraine announced a general mobilization and has repeatedly extended it since. The authorities have been doing everything possible to prevent men of conscription age from dodging the draft. In particular, potential conscripts are banned from traveling abroad. Conscription orders are issued at public administration offices on the streets and many other sites where large numbers of people congregate. Ukrainian media outlets report that many men literally avoid stepping outside their homes for months on end to avoid being forcibly mobilized by mobile conscription squads and sent to the war zone.