Men Aged 18-60 Crossing the Border: More Enter Ukraine Than Leave

In December, more and more Ukrainian men aged 18-60 are returning home. An analysis of the first weeks of December shows that Ukrainian men aged 18-60 crossed the border more to enter Ukraine than to leave.

Colonel Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, told Ukrainska Pravda that “It is wrong to assume that men are exclusively trying to leave Ukraine.”

Ukrainian men aged 18-60 are prohibited from leaving the country during martial law, except for those who are not subject to restrictions under the border crossing rules approved by a government decree.

However, it is reported that border guards daily refuse to allow about 100 people to cross the border to leave who do not qualify for a pass and do not comply with the conditions of crossing.

Demchenko said that during control measures at checkpoints, border guards strictly check the documents that give grounds for letting people cross the border, and also expose people who try to use fake documents. In total, over 11 months of 2023, about 3,000 forged documents were detected at checkpoints.

Almost half of the men crossing the Ukrainian border are drivers of vehicles engaged in international transportation of goods and passengers and registered in the Shlyakh system.

According to Ukrayinska Pravda, 15-17 percent are people with disabilities and parents with many children who have the right to cross and who, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Mobilization Training and Mobilization,” are also not subject to military service during mobilization. Around 7 percent of people crossing the border are persons who have been declared unfit for military service.

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Every day, approximately 90-100 thousand people cross the border in both directions, with a 50-50 split between exit and entry. These statistics are related to the approaching Christmas and New Year period.

In a comment to Ukrayinska Pravda, Demchenko said that 85 percent of the people crossing the border are citizens of Ukraine and there has been an increase in the number of women, children and the elderly who cross the border for various purposes, either going outside Ukraine or returning to the country.