Ukrainian police said on Friday they were conducting hundreds of raids nationwide to shut down routes used by military-aged men to flee the country to avoid military service.
Kyiv has been driving a large-scale mobilisation campaign for months to boost its military, which is struggling to hold back Russia鈥檚 significantly larger army that is advancing in the east of the country, nearly three years after Moscow invaded.
The divisive campaign has spurred panic among Ukrainian fighting-aged men and has seen thousands flee the country illegally towards Europe, sometimes utilising dangerous smuggling routes over mountains or rivers.
鈥楳ore than 600 simultaneous searches are being conducted by the Security Services of Ukraine operatives and National Police investigators,鈥� police said in a statement.
鈥楾his is only the first stage of a special operation to block the channels of trafficking of men of military age abroad,鈥� it added.
It said that the operation was primarily targeting the organisers of schemes that aid draft evaders to illegally cross the Ukrainian border. It said it would provide more information on the operation soon.
Police said 鈥榗riminals鈥� had helped hundreds of people cross the border via illegal routes and that the operation was being conducted across the country.
鈥楧etails of the operation will be made public after all investigative actions are completed,鈥� the statement added.
Kyiv has been battling problems with systemic corruption within its military mobilisation infrastructure since the beginning of Russia鈥檚 invasion in February 2022.
Meanwhile, three people were killed Friday morning and six wounded by Ukrainian strikes on the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk region, officials said.
The Russian-installed regional chief, Denis Pushilin, said that during the morning rush-hour Ukraine struck a square in the region鈥檚 main city of Donetsk with precision-guided long-range missiles fired by HIMARS rocket launchers.
The strikes on Shakhtarska Ploshcha, or Miners鈥� Square killed two people and wounded two more, Russia鈥檚 Investigative Committee told RIA Novosti news agency, accusing Ukraine of deliberately firing on civilian infrastructure.
A video released by Russian media filmed by a dashcam showed two large explosion followed by bursts of flame and several other explosions near a street where a bus and cars were passing.
Video footage filmed by investigators, released by TASS news agency, showed facades torn off and windows blown out in buildings, shrapnel holes in a car and what an investigator says are fragments from a HIMARS rocket.
Donetsk city, under Russian control since 2014 and far from the front line, has been relatively spared from the mass destruction wrought on other eastern Ukrainian cities by the conflict.
The Kremlin said on Friday that president Vladimir Putin was open to talks with Donald Trump, after the incoming US president said a meeting between the pair was being set up.
鈥楾he president has repeatedly stated his openness to contact with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,鈥� Putin鈥檚 spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20, has repeatedly said he can bring a swift end to the nearly three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine, without presenting a concrete plan.
On Thursday he said a meeting with Putin was being arranged.
鈥楬e wants to meet, and we鈥檙e setting it up,鈥� Trump said at a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
鈥楶resident Putin wants to meet, he鈥檚 said that even publicly, and we have to get that war over with, that鈥檚 a bloody mess,鈥� he said.
The Kremlin welcomed Trump鈥檚 鈥榬eadiness to solve problems through dialogue,鈥� Peskov said Friday, adding Moscow had no prerequisites for staging the meeting.
鈥楴o conditions are required. What is required is mutual desire and political will to solve problems through dialogue,鈥� he told reporters in a daily briefing.
Trump鈥檚 hopes for a swift end to the conflict have stoked concern in Kyiv that Ukraine could be forced to accept a peace deal on terms favourable to Moscow.
Washington has delivered tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in February 2022.