Media uncover hundreds of NGOs and charities involved in draft evasion scandal
A black market “service” costing up to $5,000 per person has enabled the escape of thousands of Ukrainian men, with the help of NGOs and charities.
https://euromaidanpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Alya-Shandra_avatar_1-85x85.jpgBYALYA SHANDRA
09/03/2024
https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/03/...asion-scandal/
Excerpts:
According to an investigation by NGL.media, hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and charitable foundations have been implicated in the escape of 2,248 men of conscription age who left Ukraine with permits from the Lviv Regional Military Administration and failed to return.
The investigation comes amid Ukraine’s growing scarcity of manpower at the front as a badly-needed
bill on mobilization is stalled in parliament.
The draft evasion was enabled by the NGOs submitting petitions to the Lviv Regional Military Administration to issue permits for the draft evaders to be registered in Ukraine’s Shliakh system, which enables drivers of humanitarian cargo to leave Ukraine.
Martial law prohibits most men of conscription age from leaving Ukraine without special permits.
According to a
BBC investigation, nearly 20,000 men have escaped Ukraine abroad, fleeing from the draft. Another 21,113 attempted to but were stopped by the Ukrainian authorities.
According to Eurostat, 650,000 Ukrainian men of conscription age are registered as refugees in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, and Lichtenstein. However, a part of them have legal grounds for leaving Ukraine: three or more children, needing to care for disabled relatives, having a disability, etc.