Dozens of Ukrainians died in the Carpathians while attempting to cross the border – Bild

At least 39 Ukrainian citizens have died in the mountainous regions of Romania while attempting to enter the European Union illegally since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Romanian emergency services have responded to nearly 400 calls to rescue victims who found themselves in distress due to challenging weather and terrain conditions. In total, about 32,000 Ukrainian men have illegally entered Romania.

This is reported in a story by the German publication Bild.

According to official data from the Romanian Border Guard, a total of about 32,000 Ukrainian men have entered the country illegally since the start of the war, and they have subsequently been granted asylum and legal residency in European countries. In this regard, the head of the local rescue team, Dan Benga, announced plans to create a new cross-border tourist route through the Carpathians in the future as a memorial to all compatriots who attempted to traverse this path during the war.

These events are unfolding against the backdrop of internal mobilization statistics in Ukraine, where, according to official sources, a significant number of conscripts are currently wanted for evading military registration or deserting their units. At the same time, more than two and a half million citizens of draft age have official reservations from employers or legally documented deferrals from conscription into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Earlier in the highlands of the Carpathians, Ukrainian border guards detained two residents of Zakarpattia who were attempting to illegally smuggle a man from the Kyiv region into Romania. The organizers accompanied him only part of the way, after which he was to continue on his own.

In the first three months of 2026, Ukrainian border guards exposed 80 criminal groups involved in the illegal smuggling of people across the state border and detained approximately 2,900 violators.