A Ukrainian escaped on a mattress across the Dnipro to Belarus: an unusual way to escape

In Belarus, a Ukrainian was judged, who came to the country on an inflatable mattress across the Dnieper in March this year. This extraordinary case can be an unusual direction for escape from Ukraine abroad for men.

The Ukrainian case was considered by the court of the central district of Gomel.

According to the case file, the Ukrainian came to Belarus on a mattress for 300 hryvnias on March 17. In this area it was a very cold day for bathing - +10 ° C in the daytime, and +5 ° C at night.

The man was mocked near the settlement three kilometers east of Bragin village. There he was seized by Belarusian customs officers and drawn up a protocol for the Ukrainian that he "illegally moved the goods", that is, a mattress, across the border of the Eurasian Economic Union.

But the Ukrainian did not come to court on April 4, the Belarusian Radio Liberty Service writes. He was fined 400 Belarusian rubles in absentia, and the mattress was confiscated.

The court case says that a man does not work and lives in Ukraine. What happened to him after arriving in Belarus is unknown. The court's decision does not state that it had to be returned to Ukraine.

Belarus contributed to the Russian invasion of Russia into Ukraine from its territory.

The spokesman of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko said the BBC of Ukraine that he does not know about such an unusual case of illegal crossing of the border.

"This is not inherent," he added whether other such cases were such when Ukrainians were running into Belarus across the Dnieper.

After the start of a full -scale war, Ukraine closed all border crossing points with Belarus. After the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, only one border center operates between the countries - in the Volyn region. Through him, Ukrainians who were illegally taken to Russia are returned to Ukraine.

With the beginning of the Russian full -scale invasion, Ukraine has declared martial law, general mobilization and closed borders for Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 years.

After that, border guards are recognized, cases of illegal border crossing increased.

People use the illegal services of leaders and run away from Ukraine through forests, mountains, and rivers.

This guy in February 2024 was caught when trying to illegally swim Dnister to escape to Moldova / Photo: State Border Guard Service

Perhaps the "most popular" is the Tisza River on the border with Romania. Unlike the full -flowing Dnieper, Tisza is a mountain and shallow river, but with a fast flow. Not all men were able to cross it.

In February 2024, rescuers received a 25-year-old resident of the Transcarpathian region from Tisza. It was the 20th case of Tisza since the beginning of a full-scale invasion. Six more men were killed in the mountains, the border guards report.

There are also cases where men get frostbite during escape and remain without their toes.

Do fugitives back to Ukraine

To effectively counteract the illegal crossing of the border, says Demchenko, Ukrainian border guards cooperate with the "border guards of neighboring countries in Europe and Moldova".

"If we expose an attempt to illegally cross the border and the outfit can not delay the offenders, then we immediately transmit information to the other side so that they detain the violators on their part," he explains.

Demchenko says that there are "cases" when neighbors hand over violators.

"But it must be understood that each country is guided by its legislation," says the spokesman. He added that he could not clarify which countries pass the fugitives and which ones do not.

In the summer of 2023, the Air Force communicated with Romania border guards. They said that the first meet frozen, frightened and wet Ukrainians who were able to cross the Tisza.

"They think we will send them back, but we never do it," said the Border Service employee Maria.

Maria and her border guards are often the first people faced by Ukrainians who illegally cross the border with Romania / Photo: BBC

In April, a new mobilization law was adopted in Ukraine, which will complicate the lives of men who evade military duty.

It can be assumed that nowadays escape from Ukraine can increase.

However, the spokesman of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine says that these assumptions are not backed up in numbers.

"We do not record a sharp increase in attempts by the illegal crossing of the border," said the Air Force Ukraine Andriy Demchenko.

Eurostat estimated that since the beginning of a full -scale invasion of Ukraine, 650 thousand men of conscripts have left. Some of them are illegal.