Ukrainian border guards crossed Moldova’s border while attempting to detain a man

Two Ukrainian border guards were detained by Moldovan police after an incident on the Dniester on October 15. According to the Border Police of the Republic of Moldova, near the village of Goloshnytsia, the servicemen crossed the state border in a motorboat while trying to detain a Ukrainian citizen who was swimming across the river toward Moldovan territory. According to Focus.

A video has circulated on social media showing people on the bank accusing the men in military uniforms of trying to drown the person they were attempting to detain. Witnesses also claim that the man was allegedly beaten with an oar. These claims need to be verified—the precise circumstances of the incident have not yet been established.

Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, confirmed the incident in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda and presented the Ukrainian side’s account. According to him, a border patrol spotted the man in Vinnytsia Oblast, and he resisted when they tried to detain him.

The spokesperson explained that the border guards’ motorboat engine failed, after which the boat drifted to the Moldovan bank. There, according to Demchenko, a group of people began threatening the patrol and dragged the boat ashore. The man who had tried to swim across the border was detained by Moldovan police.

The Border Police of the Republic of Moldova said the Ukrainian servicemen were detained because the legally required procedural actions had to be carried out. The case materials were forwarded to the prosecutor’s office. The Moldovan Prosecutor’s Office ordered criminal proceedings to be opened over the illegal crossing of the state border.

An internal investigation is under way at the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Law enforcement officers are to establish all the circumstances of the incident and verify the allegations made in the video.

We previously reported:

• Two brothers on aqua scooters carrying dry bags detained on the Dniester while crossing the border
• Romania can wait: a bear explained to a Kyiv resident that the border wasn’t there
• Diving underwater on aqua scooters: the Dniester has become a new route for fleeing across the border
• Draft law for draft dodgers: illegal departure could bring a fine of up to 170,000 or up to three years behind bars
• In Odesa Oblast, a smuggler led conscripts through fields to Moldova for $6,000