Ukraine's main investigative office said on July 15 that it was looking into the circumstances surrounding the death in the Odesa region of a serviceman who it suggested was shot after going AWOL and trying to get to Moldova illegally along with three other men.
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The incident comes with Ukrainian officials pressing conscription and other measures to bolster their fighting forces as the full-scale Russian invasion nears its 30th month.
The State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) said border guards detained the dead man and three other "fugitives" as they tried to cross the border into Moldova by foot on July 14.
It said one of the detainees attacked a border guard "while trying to escape."
"In response, he used a service weapon and shot the assailant," the investigators said.
The agency said its investigation was based on the death of a serviceman and was intended to clarify whether the guard used appropriate force.
More than 23,000 Ukrainian men have crossed the border illegally into neighboring Moldova since Russian troops poured into Ukraine in February 2022 in Europe's first all-out army invasion since World War II.
As part of early defense efforts, Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 59 were banned from leaving the country.
In April, Ukrainian officials lowered the conscription age from 27 to 25.
To address a shortfall in troops, hundreds of thousands of whom are thought to have been killed or wounded so far in the war, they also required men to update their draft registration information.
They also imposed pressure and punishments on Ukrainians abroad who refused to register for possible military service.
Ukrainian border officials have detained small numbers of individuals trying to leave the country into Moldova.
They reported the deaths of at least a dozen people this year who were trying to cross a western river on the border between the two countries.