Barbed wire has been stretched along the Tisza: more than 20 men have drowned while attempting to flee from Ukraine

Barbed wire has been stretched along the border between Ukraine and Romania.

This was reported by “Telegraph”.

Last year, about 20 Ukrainians attempting to evade mobilization died in the Tisza River, which separates the two countries. However, these figures are not final. It is unknown how many bodies of draft dodgers were never found.

A fence with barbed wire has been installed along the Tisza River in Zakarpattia. Presumably, it is intended to prevent draft dodgers from attempting to swim across the border into Romania. Such attempts often end tragically.

A video of the barrier was published by the advisor to the mayor of the temporarily occupied Mariupol, Petro Andryushenko. According to him, 22 Ukrainians have already died trying to swim to Romania. He added that the likelihood of dying while trying to swim across the Tisza and escape from Ukraine is higher than the likelihood of dying on the front lines.

It is worth noting that confirming or refuting this with facts is difficult, as the number of Ukrainians killed on the front lines is kept secret for understandable reasons. It is also unknown how many people attempted to escape to Romania by swimming – how many succeeded, and who died. We only know about those whose bodies were found.

However, according to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, about 20 people drowned in the Tisza in 2023. And these are only the ones they managed to find. It is known that in 2024, the body of a drowned young man, who presumably tried to illegally cross the border, was recovered from the Tisza River. He was a resident of the Ivano-Frankivsk region, born in 2002. According to border guards, this was the 21st case of a person dying while attempting to swim across the river, which forms the border with Romania.