The Ukrainian men fleeing the draft: ‘Not everyone is a warrior’ - BBC World Service Documentaries

Since Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has banned men of fighting age from leaving the country unless they have a valid exemption.

A #BBCEyeInvestigation found that nearly 20,000 men have fled the country illegally since the beginning of the war to avoid being drafted. A further 21,000 have tried to leave but were caught by the Ukrainian authorities. Many got out by crossing the border illegally, others paid substantial bribes to buy a medical exemption.

BBC Eye hears from the men who made it out hoping to be reunited with their families now living abroad.

00:00 Intro
1:27 We speak to Ukraine's Border Service in Tyachiv
4:06 Numbers are even higher at the Moldovan border
5:15 Yevgeny from Kyiv tells us why he wanted to leave
6:41 How do men like Yevgeny attempt to cross the border?
8:10 What's a ‘White Ticket’? Why is it pricey? We go undercover to find out
11:13 Government response to military recruitment corruption
11:53 Meet Erik - he couldn't get an exemption despite disability
14:46 How crossing the border across the Tysa River can be dangerous
16:59 Yevgeny's journey
18:53 Erik reunites with his family
20:23 ‘Is it worth persecuting those who have left?’, we ask Fedir Venislavskyi, a senior politician from the ruling party

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[ThisHandleWasTheOnlyAvailable]

Where are Vitaly Klitschko's sons? They're 18 and 23. Where are Oleksyi Danilov's three sons? They're in their 30s.
Oh, that's right!! They're all abroad, either in the US, UK or EU.
NONE OF THEM ARE ON THE FRONTLINES.
Same goes for all Ukrainian politicians' sons.

[rccle]

I don’t blame them. It’s a death sentence. A generation of men Military age have already died

[kaiserwilly]

8 years in jail is better than being dead for an eternity.

[SkintTV]

Ironical how people who are sitting in offices and not in front line saying : not taking part in war is coward behavior.

[Legyun]

Women wont be marching for equality regarding this!

[jorgecruz]

In every war, ask the politicians and war hawks if their sons are fighting in the war. They never are. They are off abroad living lavishly. Most soldiers are from poor and working class background defending a state that doesn’t even care about them

[Nooneapparently]

lol, not everyone wants to die, artillery, drones, and a bullet from an enemy you don’t even see is a waste of life

[Hierax]

I didn't work a job I hated for 20 years paying taxes the entire time all while enduring the hardships of parenting to have my son blown apart by a shell. My country has honestly been pretty good to me and my family. But the day my politicians claim to have the right to put my son in harms way while they hide behind him is the day I drive him to the border myself.

[violet-trash]

Thousands have crossed the river, 19 bodies have been recovered. Sounds like much better odds than the war.

[Yizahi]

Lieutenant of border guard saying that "he can't judge people" was a refreshingly honest take.

[darbstrebor]

I remember a time when East Germany use to arrest it's citizens for trying to leave, North Korea still does .Add Ukraine to the list

[terenceinasia]

I am Canadian living in Vietnam, we have Ukrainians living here that left Ukraine and they have told me upwards of 8 million have made it out... of course many left legally but the numbers BBC are reporting sound ridiculously low...

[alirad]

you have high ukranian officials stealing the international money, and then they are calling the people that dont want to fight TRAITORS ? pathetic

[smoothshot]

Funny thing is I can almost guarantee these young border force guys got this handy job due to bribery or nepotism

[anthonyjames]

Well, let's face it, if you're having to do this to win a war then you've already lost.

[karayuschij]

"Ukraine needs all the soldiers it can get"
The correct sentence is "The U.S. (BlackRock, Monsanto, Cargill, Dupont and the entire U.S. military arms industry) needs all the Ukrainian soldiers it can get..."
Ukraine needs PEACE!

[grsafran]

That young border guard seems like he understands why people would leave and is himself relieved he isn't on the front line

[ZenioDovgj]

Why aren't you showing how males are hunted like animals on ukrainian streets, pushed to busses, beaten and forced to fight?!

[pieterviljoen]

Not everyone is so stupid to fight another man’s war.

Had they settled on Minsk, Ukraine would have been intact.

That is what you get when you blind side, connive and sneak up on you neighbour’s border.

[Nick-vzvc]

For the first time in the history of the planet, 20-year-old bullies, many of whom already have children of their own, are hunting 59-year-old grandfathers in the streets and try to force them to protect the bullies.