An estimated 2,100 Ukrainian officials have attempted to leave the country illegally this year, the spokesman for the national border guard service, Andrey Demchenko, told the TSN news outlet on Friday.
The statistic was revealed in response to a direct request by the outlet regarding draft dodging. Demchenko said there had been a slight decrease in attempts to use fake documents to cross the border at checkpoints, possibly because obtaining forgeries had become more difficult. He added, however, that there had been an increase in attempts to cross the frontier away from official checkpoints.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian SBU security service reported that it had busted three new schemes for mobilization avoidance through the falsification of documents in various parts of the country.
Two of the operations allegedly involved corrupt officials helping clients escape conscription, while in two cases forgeries were specifically intended to provide cover for leaving Ukraine, according to the agency. The SBU said people had paid between $1,000 and $8,000 for the illegal services.