Swimming across the Dniester or crossing mountains with a "guide": border guards reveal the most popular attempts by draft evaders to leave Ukraine

Forgery of documents, independent trekking through the mountains, rafting down the Tisza or Dniester, and the "services" of guides – these are far from all the illegal border crossing schemes actively used by Ukrainians to bypass the law and leave the country. In 2026, such incidents remain a systemic phenomenon. Border guards record similar cases every day.

Why Ukrainians choose such methods, what their hidden dangers are besides legal liability, and whether the number of those wishing to leave illegally has increased this year, UNN spoke with the spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGSU), Andriy Demchenko. 

According to him, violators are detained at various sections of the border, regardless of the region.

Attempts to cross the border illegally continue, and in fact, we continue to detain violators every day. The main category is men trying to leave the territory of Ukraine outside the established rules. At the same time, we also record isolated cases involving other categories of citizens,

Where the border is violated most often

The vast majority of attempts to cross the state border illegally occur outside official checkpoints. We are talking about sections of the so-called "green border," where there is no control in the format of stationary infrastructure.

Most of these violations occur outside the checkpoints,

Such routes are chosen due to the complexity of checks at checkpoints. At the same time, violations are recorded there as well. Citizens use forged documents or try to create grounds for departure that do not correspond to reality.

At checkpoints, there are also cases where people try to cross the border illegally using forged documents or falsifying the conditions of their departure,

Illegal border crossing in 2026: what the statistics say 

According to the UNN interlocutor, since the beginning of 2026, border guards have detained more than 3,600 people who tried to cross the border illegally. However, this figure is currently lower than for the same period of the previous year. According to SBGSU estimates, the decrease is approximately 38%.

Recently, there has been a downward trend,

He also specified that peak values were recorded earlier, especially at the beginning of the previous years — 2024 and 2025. Since August last year, the number of attempts to cross the border secretly has gradually begun to decrease. 

What methods Ukrainians choose to leave the country illegally 

Some citizens try to cross the border independently, planning the route without outside help. Such attempts are often associated with choosing difficult terrain: people try to cross mountain ranges on their own or raft down turbulent rivers (for example, the Tisza or the Dniester).  

At the same time, many violators turn to the "services" of organized groups.

Most of these violators are not independent in their actions; they turn to criminal groups,

The SBGSU spokesperson details: such groups offer services for route planning, accompaniment, and instruction. Payment depends on the complexity of the route and the promises of the organizers. The cost ranges on average from 5 to 12 thousand dollars.

Thus, in just three months of the current year – from January to March inclusive – law enforcement officers exposed 30 such groups. Half of them were in March.

And for the entire previous year, about 520 cases of exposing organizers and their accomplices were recorded,

Where Ukrainians try to cross the border most actively 

The most restless in terms of crossing the border without permits remain the sections of the border with Romania and Moldova. According to Demchenko, the situation at these locations was also tense previously. However, recently, it is the Romanian section that has come out on top in terms of the number of attempts. This is due to the geographical features of the area and the choice of routes offered by "organizers."

Unauthorized border crossing and risks to life 

In a conversation with UNN, the SBGSU spokesperson emphasized: attempts to cross the border illegally are always dangerous to people's lives and health. The most risky in this regard are mountain sections and river routes. The Tisza River poses a particular danger.

The Tisza has claimed a large number of lives of people who tried to overcome it,

In addition, in recent weeks, border guards have recorded an increase in attempts to cross the state border via the Dniester.

As a reminder

Recently in Bukovyna, a "hub" for draft evaders with a profit of over 200,000 euros was exposed. An organized group transported men to Romania through the forest for 5-15 thousand euros. Law enforcement officers detained the suspects and seized special equipment.