Men are undertaking dangerous journeys through the wilderness to escape the country, according to the American broadcaster
Ukrainian men are risking deadly border crossings to avoid mobilization as Kiev struggles with chronic manpower shortages, CNN has reported, citing interviews with draft-dodgers who fled to Romania.
More than 30,000 people have crossed over into Romania alone since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, the US broadcaster wrote earlier this week, adding that over 25,000 have been caught by Ukrainian border guards. “Many more flee to Moldova, Hungary, Belarus and other countries,” CNN added.
Kiev has been facing chronic manpower shortages throughout its conflict with Moscow amid high battlefield losses, massive draft dodging, and desertion. The last publicly available official data showed nearly 290,000 desertion cases in Ukraine since 2022.
Ukraine has barred nearly all adult men from leaving the country and lowered the draft age from 27 to 25. Nearly 100,000 young men have reportedly fled the country since August, when the Ukrainian government issued a decree allowing men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border.
One man contacted by CNN said he lost all his toes to frostbite during an attempt to cross into Romania. He said another draft dodger who went with him froze to death in a snowstorm.
“They would rather die on the mountains trying to escape than in the war,” a Romanian man in charge of rescue missions at the border told CNN, referring to Ukrainians he had met.
Kiev’s recruitment drive has grown increasingly brutal as hundreds of incidents have been documented in which enlistment officers assaulted potential conscripts, chased them through the streets, and threatened bystanders who tried to intervene.
Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that the Ukrainian authorities want as many as 2 million new draftees in early 2026. Draft officials were told to “tighten the screws to a maximum,” she added.
