Law enforcement detain men seeking to flee abroad using false documents “every day,” Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said FILE PHOTO: A border guard checks documents at a checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Polish border, August 16, 2022. © Global Look Press / Pavlo Palamarchuk Ukrainian authorities plan to prosecute men who fled abroad during martial law, Interior Minister Igor Klimenko has told news outlet RBK Ukraina. They the official said, amid what he described as daily attempts to illegally escape Ukrainian territory during the ongoing conflict. Klimenko said in the interview, published on Thursday. He believes there will be a relevant particularly dealing with those who during this period. According to the minister, the legislation would be jointly initiated by government and lawmakers. Klimenko went on to claim that wants such legislation to be passed and He did not elaborate what other sanctions those found in violation of such a law may face. The minister also admitted that Ukrainian men are still seeking to flee the country, more than a year after the conflict began. Klimenko said. He also admitted that in the of the hostilities. Read more Kiev works with its “international partners” to equip Ukraine’s western borders with the technical means to prevent illegal border crossings, the minister said. The frontier is to be equipped with thermal imaging and CCTV cameras, he added. Ukrainian border guards also jointly patrol the nation’s frontiers, Klimenko explained, “together with our European partners.” Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky imposed martial law and banned Ukrainian males aged 18-60 from leaving the country soon after the conflict broke out in late February 2022. Since then, there have been several waves of mobilization, as Kiev sought to rebuild units decimated in the fighting. According to media reports, people were bribing officials to dodge the draft and paying to be smuggled out of the country. Some Western media outlets, including The Economist, previously reported on what they called “aggressive” mobilization tactics used by the Kiev government. In February 2023, Kiev maintained it still would not let male Ukrainians leave the country. Presidential aide Mikhail Podoliak told the German state outlet DW at that time that obligations to the state take precedence over human rights “in wartime.” He also admitted that men in Ukraine “want to run away.”
