Ukraine and Moldova in talks about returning draft dodgers.

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Kyiv and Chisinau are discussing the possibility of returning Ukrainian draft dodgers staying in Moldova, some of whom have been granted asylum in the country, Ukraine's ambassador Marko Shevchenko said on July 23. Men of draft age are banned from leaving Ukraine during martial law, with several exemptions. There are no official figures for the number of people who have illegally left the country but a November 2023 report by the BBC indicated around 20,000 Ukrainian men have crossed into bordering countries and escaped mobilization.

The majority of these attempts occur on Ukraine's border with Moldova and Romania, while the border with Poland sees the largest number of attempts to leave Ukraine through checkpoints with forged documents,  State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andrii Demchenko, said in April. "When I talk to colleagues, I say that if we cannot solve a big problem, it's better to solve smaller ones individually - what to do with people whom Moldova has denied asylum," Shevchenko said in comments reported by RBC Ukraine. About 11,000 Ukrainian men have illegally crossed the border into Romania since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on May 9, citing data from the Romanian border police.

A total of 19 men aged between 18 and 60 died while trying to cross into the neighboring country, said Florin Coman, the chief of the Romanian border police in the city of Sighetu Marmatiei. Eleven of them reportedly drowned in the Tysa River, and the rest died while trying to cross the Carpathian Mountains without proper equipment. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, there have been multiple reports of men attempting to illegally flee Ukraine by swimming the Tysa River, which flows along the border with Hungary, Romania, and Moldova.

Eye of the storm: A day in the life of Ukrainian infantry on the zero line near Toretsk

Editor's note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first names and callsigns only.

DONETSK OBLAST - There was already little resembling a road in front of the driver by the time the old pickup truck's headlights were