A mobile game has appeared in the Iphone AppStore, in which the character has to swim across the Tisa – the very river in which, since the beginning of the general, forced mobilization, more than 34 Ukrainians who tried to escape from home to Romania to avoid being sent to the front have been killed
The game is primitive, and in comparison with the fast-moving river, the hero will not have much difficulty to “swim” across the Tisa – he just has to avoid rocks and logs. Real evaders should not only swim against the current in icy water, but also try to be invisible for drones and dogs, which are used by Ukrainian border guards.
The game is advertised cheerfully and without criticism by the Ukrainian media, while the country’s State Border Guard Service warns that it is OK to play, but not to swim across the Tisa.
Only since February of this year, the bodies of 13 evaders have landed on the banks of the river on the Ukrainian-Romanian border. This is only an approximate number of dead, as some bodies could have got caught in trees and bushes, of which there are many.
In late May, Kiev set up dozens of new checkpoints, as well as additional National Guard units near the Tisa River, in an effort to thwart the escape of the country’s militarily obliged residents.