MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Three Ukrainians trying to flee mobilization almost froze to death while trying to get into Hungary via the Tisza River, the Ukrainian state border service said.

"Border security officers rescued three men who got stranded in the icy waters of the Tisza. <…> Three men planned to cross into Hungary via the Tisza, having trusted the promises of smugglers," the agency said on its Telegram channel, adding that the unlucky fugitives managed to cling to a fallen log and wait for help.

The border security service regularly reports about men of recruitment age risking their lives by trying to cross the border illegally in the woods or by swimming across the River Tisza, which separates Ukraine from Romania and Hungary. Many people ask "guides" for assistance, a service that could run them several thousand dollars, but, oftentimes, these guides simply drive the fugitives closer to the border and point them in the general direction they need to go. Dead bodies are regularly discovered on the Tisza coastline.

Martial law and universal mobilization were declared in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, having been prolonged repeatedly since then. The Ukrainian authorities do everything they can to prevent men from avoiding military service. Men are being mobilized by force, causing an uproar inside the country; men of conscription age seek to leave the country by any means, often risking their own lives in the process. Despite that, on April 16, Zelensky signed a controversial law tightening mobilization, making it possible to draft hundreds of thousands of additional Ukrainians to the army.