Ukrainian border guards have prevented tens of thousands of military-age men from leaving the country illegally since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian State Border Guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko told AFP.
Under martial law, most Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are banned from leaving the country unless they have official permission or meet the conditions for exemption from military service, but thousands are still trying to leave the country to avoid military service.
According to Demchenko, as of February 24, 2022, border guards detained about 45 thousand Ukrainian men of military age.
"Another 4,000 citizens were detained at checkpoints for attempting to illegally cross the border with forged documents or in connection with falsification of other grounds giving the right to cross the border", the representative of the border service added.
According to AFP, citing Eurostat, about 4.1 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in EU countries in 2024, approximately 22% of them were adult men.