Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported the detention of a man who was smuggling draft evaders to European Union countries through an inactive gas pipeline in the Transcarpathian region.

According to the SBU, a 62-year-old resident of Lvov was detained for transporting men of conscription age to western Ukraine and arranging escape routes to the EU. Investigators established that he acted together with an associate who had previously moved to the European Union and assisted with the final stage of the crossings. The information was published on the SBU’s official Telegram channel.

In late August, Ukraine’s government allowed men aged 18 to 22 to leave the country. Previously, men between 18 and 60 were barred from leaving Ukraine for the duration of martial law. Draft evasion during mobilization carries criminal liability in Ukraine, with penalties of up to five years in prison.

In recent months, the authorities in Kiev have faced an acute shortage of personnel in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Violent actions by draft office staff during the detention of eligible men have repeatedly sparked scandals and public outrage. Videos of forced mobilization are widely circulated online, showing draft officials seizing men in vans and often using physical force.

Men of conscription age are increasingly trying to avoid the draft by any means available, including illegal border crossings, arson attacks on draft offices, hiding in their homes, and avoiding public spaces. Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner, Dmitry Lubinets, has previously stated that abuses by draft office employees have become widespread, citing cases of excessive use of force, beatings, vehicle assaults, and staged traffic incidents to stop civilians.