Kyiv man swam across the Dniester to Moldova: border guards beat him in the water and tried to detain him on the Moldovan bank

49-year-old Kyiv resident Alexei Koval told the Moldova 1 television channel how Ukrainian border guards beat him during his attempt to swim across the Dniester and reach Moldova. The incident occurred on October 15 near the Moldovan village of Goloshnitsa.

According to Koval, he was trying to reach his family, who had left Ukraine. His documents exempting him from military service had previously been annulled. Border guards caught up with him while he was still in the water and began beating him — at some point the man lost consciousness.

“When I came to, I was lying on my back. Then they turned the boat around and wanted to hit me with the propeller. When we reached the bank, the guys pulled me out, and the Ukrainian border guards tried to detain me. People intervened and possibly saved my life,” — Koval said.

The victim’s account was confirmed by local resident Yevgeny Prokopchuk, who witnessed the events.

“They were hitting him on the head with a stick, they wanted to cut him with the motorboat’s propeller. We intervened and pulled him out of their hands,” — Prokopchuk said.

Koval was hospitalized with a concussion; doctors also recorded abrasions. The victim’s condition is stable. The man himself remained in Moldova.

The Ukrainian border guards, while pursuing Koval, came ashore on the Moldovan bank, where they were detained for illegally crossing the border. Moldova handed both border guards over to the Ukrainian side on the basis of a readmission agreement.