650,000 draft-age men left Ukraine during the war — report
Since February 2022, about 650,000 draft-age men have left Ukraine, Austrian tabloid Exxpress reported on Nov. 20, citing Eurostat (EU’s official statistics service) data.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees previously reported that since the start of the full-scale war, approximately 6.3 million people have fled Ukraine. BBC Ukraine, referring to an analysis of Eurostat information, writes that according to open-source data, 4.2 million Ukrainians have received temporary protections in the EU, with 18.3% (768,000) being men aged 18 to 64. BBC Ukraine reports Exxpress obtained data on men aged 18 to 60.
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The statistics, however, do not specify the number of men who have legally crossed the border as fathers of three children, persons with disabilities, or members of other categories allowed to leave Ukraine by law. Also, as BBC Ukraine notes, the figure does not account for men who may have fled from Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.
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According to Exxpress, based on data from the German Interior Ministry, 221,000 Ukrainian draft-age men have arrived in the country since February 24, 2022, with 189,000 still there. The ministry believes an additional 100,000 men are in the country illegally. At least 14,000 Ukrainian men have gone to Austria, some of whom, the report says, used forged documents or relied on smugglers.
Previously, the BBC reported, citing data from Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, and Slovakia, that between February 2022 and August 31, 2023, 19,740 men had illegally crossed the Ukrainian border.
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