Ukraine says it caught a man trying to escape the country by paddling on an inflatable mattress to Moldova
A man was caught trying to leave Ukraine via the Dniester River — on an air mattress.
Ukrainian border agents found him paddling with his arms in an attempt to reach Moldova.
The border service said he was paying another person $4,200 for advice on the crossing.
Ukraine's border service said on Wednesday that it caught a man attempting to cross into Moldova by "swimming" on an inflatable mattress in the Dniester River.
The State Border Service released footage of the 39-year-old man lying on his stomach atop the mattress and paddling through the water with his arms.
He was fully clothed, wearing a hoodie, long pants, and a pair of sneakers while carrying a backpack.
Law enforcement agents spotted him with a drone, then reached the man by boat and detained him, the border service said in a statement.
Border officials said the unnamed Dnipro resident had contacted a person on a messaging app who coordinated his attempted crossing for about $4,200.
The border service said the money was for instructions on using the mattress and how to store a mobile phone and spare clothes.
The man had already paid half of the money in advance, authorities added.
He is being charged with making an illegal attempt to cross the border, and his case will be brought to court, they said.
It's unclear why the man was attempting to cross into Moldova.
Thousands of men have been fleeing Ukraine in hopes of escaping the country's military draft. The recent outflow has risen so much that mountain-region smugglers are turning from importing contraband to guiding draft dodgers, The New York Times reported.
The border service did not say if the man on the mattress was trying to dodge the draft.
But many draft dodgers have tried to swim out of the country, with up to 6,000 men found on the Romanian side of the Tysa River since Russia's invasion began, per NYT.
Some use Telegram groups to help evade draft officers, with several groups numbering up to 100,000 members, The BBC reported in August.
Two years into the war, Russia and Ukraine are still locked in fierce fighting that Ukraine says it will lose without foreign aid. The US, for its part, is contributing about $60 billion in assistance this year, including NATO weaponry and equipment.
Ukraine has been intensifying efforts to replenish its exhausted forces through an expanded draft that, since mid-April, enlists men 25 years old and above. The draft age was previously 27 but was lowered by the Ukrainian parliament on April 2.
In a move to support the draft, Ukraine said on Tuesday that it would temporarily stop issuing passports for military-age men abroad, meaning anyone trying to get a renewal must return home. An estimated 650,000 Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 left the country after Russia invaded.
This isn't the first time the Ukrainian border service has caught someone in an air mattress-related incident. In February, border officials said they arrested two foreign agents planning to ferry a 37-year-old Kyiv resident to Hungary via a river.
Agents found an inflatable mattress and a pump in their car and said the Kyiv resident was dressed in a wetsuit.
The man had agreed to pay $4,000 for the crossing attempt, border authorities said.
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