MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has caught four men attempting to illegally cross into Romania, using children's inflatable swimming rings.

"Four men with two children's rings planned to swim across the Tisa River. Yesterday evening in the Transcarpathian Region, border guards from the Tyachev department of the Mukachevo detachment prevented an illegal border crossing attempt," the Western Regional Office wrote on its page on Facebook (banned in Russia, owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).

The four men from the Lvov, Ternopol, and Transcarpathian regions sought to make it into Romania by resorting to social media to engage dealers who, for $4,000 each, offered assistance in their escape. "Upon arrival in Tyachev, the men were driven to the border area by car and directed toward the Tisa River. Additionally, they were given two inflatable children's rings for the four of them. The organizers of the plot themselves disappeared," the State Border Guard Service added.

The fugitives may face administrative punishment.

Since February 2022, Ukraine has enforced a general mobilization, with the authorities striving to prevent conscription-age men from dodging service. Videos of "enforced mobilization" and clashes between citizens and military commissariats in various cities are regularly appear on Ukrainian social media. Men of conscription age are attempting risky escapes, even disguising themselves as animals. On May 18, a law tightening mobilization rules came into force in Ukraine, allowing hundreds of thousands more Ukrainians to be called up into the army.