€20,000 border escape scheme: organizers detained in Kharkiv region. PHOTOS
Climbing over a barbed-wire fence and swimming across a river in a wetsuit - that was the kind of "service" offered by the organizers of yet another scheme to illegally smuggle military-liable men across the state border. Among those detained was a Russian citizen.
This was reported by Censor.NET, citing the press office of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
The illegal exit scheme: how the organisers operated
According to the investigation, residents of the Zaporizhzhia region had set up a "business": under the guise of legal consultations on obtaining documents for lawful border crossing, they were selling escape services out of Ukraine. They looked for "clients" through online advertisements.
A "transfer" for 20,000 euros across the river and the fence
"It was precisely this kind of 'advertisement' that a resident of Kharkiv came across in January 2026. The dealers had no interest in official procedures: one of them assured the man that the only possible way to leave the country was to cross the border outside official checkpoints," the statement says.
The cost of such a "transfer" was estimated at 20,000 euros. Initially, payment was demanded via a crypto wallet, but later they agreed to cash.
According to the plan, the man was first to be taken to Mukachevo, where the walking route began. The"client" was warned to bring gloves for climbing over barbed-wire fences. He was later told that he would have to swim across a river, for which he would be provided with a wetsuit.
Back in March, in the village of Rohan in the Kharkiv district, the "client" met with another participant in the scheme, who was to drive him to Kharkiv to change to another car. During the journey, the driver assured the man of the scheme’s reliability.
Arrest in Kharkiv: Russian citizen among those involved
In the centre of Kharkiv, the group was met by a third man – a Russian citizen – to whom the ‘client’ handed over the agreed sum of money. Immediately afterwards, law enforcement officers detained the two accomplices in accordance with Article 208 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine.
- Under the procedural supervision of the Slobidska District Prosecutor’s Office in Kharkiv, both have been notified of suspicion regarding the organisation of the illegal smuggling of persons across the state border of Ukraine, the direction of such actions and the facilitation of their commission through advice, instructions and the provision of means, committed in a manner dangerous to the life or health of a person, by prior conspiracy of a group of persons and for mercenary motives (Part 3 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
- At the prosecutor’s request, the suspects have been remanded in custody.
- Prosecutors, together with other law enforcement officers, are gathering evidence and carrying out the necessary investigative measures to notify the third accomplice of the charges against him – he is currently abroad.
