Two men in Ukraine's western region of Uzhhorod spoke to Euronews about why they are fleeing conscription from the country's army — and how they are doing it.
ADVERTISEMENTEvery day, the number of graves in the park next to the Calvary cemetery in Uzhhorod, western Ukraine, grows.
In the past two-and-a-half years, this place has become the memorial site for the fallen fighters of Transcarpathia.
As many as 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to US estimates.
In the first days of the war, ethnic Hungarian men from Transcarpathia fled to Hungary to escape military drafts, but some did not want to leave their lives behind.
Two Hungarian-Ukrainian men hiding in western Ukraine spoke to Euronews on condition of anonymity about how dodging the draft has impacted them.
"If we can go, we go; if not, we stay at home. But we try to keep each other informed in any way we can. We'll call each other or send a message telling where the checkpoints are," one man said.
He shows us on his phone how tens of thousands of men are sharing information online to stay out of the clutches of recruitment officers.
Another man has a different technique.
"My wife drives in front of me every morning. She makes sure there are no police or military anywhere. That's how we get to work. And if they show up, we just drive into the bush. The main thing is to avoid them," he said.
One local, known as Peter, said that according to stories he has heard throughout the Uzhorod neighbourhood, bribes paid to conscription officers to avoid being sent to the frontlines have increased.
"A boy in the village recently told me that he was released for 800 euros. They gave him no collateral, but let him out of the gate. But some people paid 5,000 euros," he said.
The Centre for European Policy Analysis reported that as of February 2024, five million Ukrainian men aged 25 to 60 were eligible to fight on the frontlines. However, the think tank cautions that Kyiv will need at least 400,000 additional soldiers to defeat Russia's army.