Bribes and hiding at home: the Ukrainian men trying to avoid conscription

Soldiers who volunteered at the beginning of the war with Russia are exhausted or injured, and conscriptions are becoming more common in cities and towns. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

At the last military checkpoint before he exited Ukraine in April, a 39-year-old man from Odesa handed over papers showing he had a serious spinal injury, thus exempting him from military service and from the ban on adult men leaving the country.

“One of the soldiers said, ‘That hospital really likes this diagnosis, huh?’” recalled the man. “I could see they knew exactly what was going on, and it wasn’t the first time. But they were powerless to do anything, so waved me through,” he said.