Ukrainian border guards in Odessa region on the evening of June 13 stopped a truck with 41 people inside, instead of the declared wheat, near Satul Nou, Reni, on its way to the border with the Republic of Moldova, IPN reports, with reference to Ukrainska pravda.

Commenting on the case, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko said that documentation measures have been taken. Among the passengers of the truck were residents of Kyiv, Odessa, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Kharkiv, Kirovograd, Chernigov, Zhytomyr, Cherkassy and Volyn regions.

A criminal case over the organization of illegal border crossing was started against the driver, a resident of Bolgrade.

As for the people in the trailer, the official preferred not to label them as persons who evade mobilization, mentioning that a good part of them are under 25 years old and, implicitly, are outside the provisions of the law on mobilization. “They are, first of all, accused of trying to cross the border illegally.”

According to Demchenko, attempts to cross the border illegally are thwarted daily. “Quite often, large groups trying to cross the border (illegally) are detected. The organizers promise them assistance, but fail to deliver.

The local press repeatedly reported that persons who want to leave Ukraine illegally pay traffickers thousands of dollars or euros per person.