In 2026, 5,000 border violators were detained at Ukraine's border — Demchenko

In the first five months of this year, Ukrainian border guards detained approximately 5,000 people at the state border or in the border zone who were attempting to cross it illegally.

“In the first five months of this year, border patrols or task forces detained 5,000 violators at the state border or in the border zone who intended to cross the border illegally,” he said.

Demchenko reported that in May, border guards detained 1,100 violators, and there has been a slight increase in the number of such individuals compared to April.

“But overall, we have not seen a significant increase in attempts to cross the border illegally,” the spokesperson said.

He explained that when comparing the number of people detained for attempting to cross the border illegally this year with similar figures from May of last year or the year before, there has been a significant decrease in this figure.

Demchenko noted that border guards began recording an actual decrease in the number of attempts to cross the border illegally starting in August of last year.

The spokesperson reported that since the beginning of the year, a total of 136 criminal groups specializing in attempts to smuggle people across the border, comprising 510 individuals, have been exposed. Of these, 34 groups comprising 120 individuals were exposed in May.

“As for the violators themselves and the number we detained at the border, the majority of them—2,600—were detained on the Romanian section,” he said.

Demchenko reported that while previously, for example in 2022–2023, the figures for the Romanian and Moldovan sections of the border were roughly on par (in terms of attempts to illegally cross the border there—ed.), but now the Moldovan section is seeing fewer attempts to illegally cross the border. A total of 1,100 violators have been detained there since the beginning of the year.

“The Romanian section, however, has for quite some time had a higher number of people attempting to cross it to leave Ukraine,” the spokesperson stated.

Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, reported this during a briefing at Ukrinform.

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