The Guardian’s account of Ukrainian men who spend all their savings to flee the country

The British Guardian newspaper went to a 31-year-old Ukrainian photographer named “Dmytro” who locked himself in his house for months to avoid going to war. This newspaper says that there are many such people who stay at home for months so as not to be detected by the government and sent to war. Also, many of these people are spending all their savings to leave the country illegally. 

Since the start of the war, thousands of Ukrainian men have crossed the Ukrainian border illegally to avoid being sent to the battlefield. Current Ukrainian law says that men aged 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving the country. At the same time, this country has recently reduced the enlistment age and increased the punishment for desertion. 

“Dimitro” is in contact with people through his friends who have escaped before and he is going to leave the country illegally by paying a huge fee (at least 8 thousand euros). “I wasn’t built for war,” Dimitro says. I cannot kill humans, even if they are Russians. I don’t last long at the front. I want to build a family and see the world. I am not ready to die.” He says he doesn’t trust the people who are going to take him out of the border, but at the same time, he has no choice. 

After more than two years of war, the armed forces of Ukraine are severely short of soldiers. Many soldiers have been killed or wounded by now or are tired of the war. Last April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a controversial law lowering the conscription age by two years. According to the draft of the new law, deserting soldiers’ licenses will be confiscated, their bank accounts will be frozen and their property will be confiscated. 

It is believed that more than 20,000 Ukrainian men fled the country to avoid military service. Some of them swam and drowned while trying to cross the Ukrainian border towards Romania. In April, Andriy Demchenko, the head of Ukraine’s state border guard service, reported that at least 30 Ukrainian men had died trying to cross the border, although the actual number is likely to be much higher, as it is very unlikely that the bodies will be found. is.

There are no exact statistics on the number of people in hiding either, but in big cities telegram groups with thousands of members have been created where men help each other to avoid going to war. The Guardian says that they talked to different people and they give different reasons for not going to war. Some are afraid of being killed in conflicts, some think they haven’t had enough military training, and some have cited complex family reasons. 

Volodymyr Zelensky recently stated that despite the high casualties, Ukraine is not interested in prolonging the war and is developing a peace plan that will end it by the end of this year.

Translator: Zahra Najafi