The turbulent water can be treacherous, the banks are steep and slippery with mud, and the riverbed is covered with sharp, hidden rocks.
However, Ukrainian border guards often find their prey – men seeking to escape conscription – swimming in these conditions, trying to cross the Tisza River, where it forms the border with Romania.
Lieutenant Vladyslav Tonkoshtan recently detained a man on the bank, where he was preparing to cross the river in hopes of reuniting with his wife and children, whom he had not seen in two years since they fled to another country in Europe.
The fact that thousands of Ukrainian men have chosen to risk swimming rather than face dangers as soldiers highlights the challenge for President Volodymyr Zelensky as he seeks to mobilize new troops after more than two years of grueling trench warfare with Russia.
“We can't judge these people,” said Lieutenant Tonkoshtan. “But if all the men leave, who will defend Ukraine?”
As Russia has taken the initiative on the battlefield in recent months, Ukraine's ability to defend itself depends on replenishing its arsenal and mobilizing troops at home.
But getting more men to enlist has been difficult and politically tense. On April 11, Ukraine's Parliament passed a law to expand conscription by eliminating some medical and other exemptions, increasing soldiers' pay, and toughening penalties for evading conscription. Zelensky separately signed a law lowering the draft age from 27 to 25.
The shortage of soldiers in Ukraine has worsened, the Generals say. In a speech in Parliament on April 11, the commander of Ukrainian forces in the east, General Yurii Sodol, said that Russians in certain sections of the front outnumber Ukrainians more than 7 to 1.
Many Ukrainians who volunteered in the early days of the war have fought continuously since, with only two weeks' leave a year. As Ukraine's prospects on the battlefield have diminished, draft evasion has been on the rise. In western Ukraine, men have been crossing to other European countries, where they seek refugee status.
Romanian authorities say more than 6,000 men have appeared on their side of the Tisza River since the Russian invasion. Not everyone makes it. The bodies of 22 men have been found on both banks, said Lieutenant Lesya Fedorova, spokeswoman for the border guard unit in Mukachevo.
The exodus has changed the nature of smuggling in Ukraine's Carpathians, which border four European Union countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Smuggling that once focused on cigarettes has become the business of guiding draft evaders, border guards and local officials say.
Border guards say they detain men who try to cross the border illegally and cannot specify whether a man was evading the draft, a determination that is left to a court. But the tendency of men to cross is clear.
Last year, the Mukachevo Border Guard Detachment dismantled 56 gangs that helped Ukrainian men leave the country illegally, said Lieutenant Fedorova. Prices for help crossing the border, she said, have risen to $10,000 today, up from $2,000 per person shortly after the invasion.
Last year, guards posted online videos of rescues and body recoveries from the Tisza to discourage men from risking swimming. “They see the river as their chance to live because many soldiers die at the front,” Lieutenant Fedorova said.
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