This year, more than ten thousand Ukrainian citizens crossed Romania’s northern border illegally, three times more than in the same period last year, said Florin Coman, head of the regional inspection of the Romanian border police (ITPF). , he said at a press conference on Wednesday, October 30. Sighetu Marmatiei, Maramures County.
The head of the border police responsible for the 367 kilometer stretch of the border with Ukraine said that as of the end of October last year, 3,278 people had been detained in the three districts under his jurisdiction, and so far this year there have been 10,700 .
Of them, 5,869 people crossed the Ukrainian-Romanian border in Maramures County, 3,767 in Suceava County and 1,064 in Satu Mare County. The Romanian border in Maramures County is easier to cross because access to it is more convenient along forest roads on the Ukrainian side.
According to a report published on the Romanian border police website, a press conference stated that 97.24% of those who crossed the border were Ukrainian citizens aged between 18 and 60 who claimed to have fled to Romania to cause of the war.
Since the beginning of the war, 19,068 Ukrainian citizens illegally entered the territory of these three counties. All of them were allowed “entry” and the opportunity to apply for asylum in Romania on the basis of the European Union decision on the temporary protection of refugees of Ukrainian citizens of March 4, 2022, said the head of the Maramures County Border Police.
“Many people attempted to cross the border through the cold, rushing waters of the Tisza River or at various points in the Maramures Mountains, which sometimes exceed 1,900 meters high, without the proper equipment. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, we have discovered the bodies of 25 murdered Ukrainian citizens: 15 on the Romanian bank of the Tisza, ten in the Maramures mountains.” —said Florin Coman.
He added that most of the activities aimed at rescuing Ukrainian citizens in trouble are carried out in cooperation with the mountain rescue service of the Maramures district.
18 paid mountain lifeguards participate in the rescue missions and, together with 26 volunteer mountain lifeguards, form the rescue teams. A rescue operation lasts an average of between 10 and 12 hours.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Romanian border police, mountain rescuers and firefighters have participated in 150 joint rescue operations in the Maramures mountains, during which they managed to rescue 200 Ukrainian citizens.
This year they have carried out 65 such missions and rescued 80 stranded Ukrainian citizens, said the head of the regional inspection of the Romanian border police in Maramures.
