Police dismantle nearly 50 illegal border crossing systems in massive crackdown

The Ukrainian National Police dismantled almost 50 attempts to illegally cross the border by Ukrainian men of military service age, police announced on January 11 after a large-scale operation.

The announcement follows 600 simultaneous raids across the country on January 10, aimed at preventing combat-age men from fleeing abroad. Ukraine bans men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country under martial law, instituted upon the outbreak of full-scale war in Russia in 2022.

Sixty suspects were charge in schemes that included crossing the border outside checkpoints, falsifying health documents and entering false entries into an electronic information system, police said.

The accused included heads of state institutions, hospital directors, military enlistment officers, medical commission officials and ordinary civilians. According to the release, the men seeking to leave the country paid the suspects between $5,000 and $22,000 to help them cross the border.

The suspects face up to nine years in prison, confiscation of their property and a ban on holding certain official positions. Police noted that this concludes the first stage of the operation, as efforts are underway to identify additional suspects.

Even if the Minister of the Interior Ihor Klymenko Although Ukrainian authorities admitted last June that dozens of men were trying to cross the border illegally every day, Ukrainian authorities have largely avoided providing exact numbers.

According to the Romanian police, 11,000 Ukrainian men illegally crossed the border with Romania between the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion and May 2024. At least 23,500 people entered Moldova illegally between February 2022 and last July, Radio Europe Libre/Radio Liberté reported.

Plans for illegal border crossings only worsen the manpower shortage facing Ukraine’s armed forces as they struggle to halt the Russian advance into Donetsk Oblast.