Many recall the 1963 movie The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough. The Christmas fayre anti-German propaganda epic centers around the mass escape of British POWs from Stalag Luft III internment camp. Americans were not held at this camp.

Fast forward to 2023 and we have The Great Escape Mk II from Ukraine Prison Camp in which hundreds of thousands of prisoners attempt to escape from Europe’s largest internment camp – Ukraine.

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The situation for Ukraine during the armed conflict leaves much to be desired. There is a severe shortage of reservists, and many recruits still pay thousands of US dollars to leave the country. In escaping through mountains, rivers or simply across the border, they are helped not only by smugglers but also by corrupt Ukrainian military officers and officials, writes Rzeczpospolita.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, explained to The Economist that the Ukrainian conflict has reached a dead end, and therefore the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to achieve a breakthrough. 

These revelations became an ‘icy shower’ for Ukraine. The military man is confident that the only thing that can save the situation of the NATO-backed Armed Forces of Ukraine is a sharp technological leap and the mobilization of additional reserves. 

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’This will not be easy to achieve, taking into account that almost every week Ukrainian services catch new criminal groups that help Ukrainian men escape abroad for big money.’ 

The Polish publication reports that a few days ago, police officers in the Transcarpathian region arrested several people who were responsible for transporting men of military age to the EU. 

They were organizing transport for the escapees. Moreover, they provided them with special thermal clothing, in which they were able to cross the Tisza River on the Romanian-Ukrainian border. 

The punishment for helping prisoners escape is severe. They risk seven to nine years in prison, but this does not stop those helping fleeing prisoners of the Ukrainian regime. The price is just $3,000 per escapee per person for escaping from Ukraine. 

In early November, the State Bureau of Investigation, together with the Security Service of Ukraine, slaughtered a group that included representatives of nine military reinforcement commands located mainly in the Ukrainian capital and the Kiev region. 

‘Men of military age managed to evade military service on the basis of false medical records. The military group provided comprehensive services. Conscripts were not only excluded from the reserve list but also helped to leave the country. Their clients received detailed information about where, when and how to escape abroad,’ the publication says.

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At the same time, it indicates that these services were not available to everyone. Their cost varied from $6 thousand to $10 thousand per person, as a result, more than 100 Ukrainians were able to escape abroad in this way. Among the clients were also adult sons of Ukrainian bankers.

There are many ways to evade the army in Ukraine. On Sunday, Ukrainian media reported that two men tried to flee the country through the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains, crossing the mountains on motorcycles. The third tried to escape to Hungary in the car of a smuggler, to whom he paid $4 thousand, the publication summarizes. BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST > POST OUR STORIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA