Angelina Jolie's guide is ordered to register at conscription office during her visit to Ukrainian front line - and ‘his family can no longer contact him’

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Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00

Written by Daily mail

          Angelina Jolie's guide was dramatically ordered to register at a war conscription office during her visit to frontline regions of Ukraine on a UN humanitarian mission.The Hollywood star, 50, was being escorted by Dmytro Pyshchikov, 33, when they were stopped at a checkpoint in Pivdennoukrainsk, in the south of the country, on November 5. During this checkpoint stop, guards reportedly found his documents showed he had no grounds for deferment from military service. Despite the bodyguard's claims that he was escorting an 'important person' he was still taken to the local Territorial Recruitment Centre [TRC] - which handles enlistment for fighters defending Ukraine from Russian aggression.His loved ones say they now cannot contact him. Pyshchikov's girlfriend Yulia Lotytska told local media: 'He called me [on November 5]. I texted him several times before that, he didn't answer. 'Then I decided to call, his phone was turned off. And he called after a while, told me that he was in the Mykolaiv region, in Voznesensk, at the [TRC]. That he had been detained, he was moving with the motorcade'.His brother Yevhen Pyshchikov said Dmytro was given permission to defer from military service this year, on account of his bad back: 'He had all the documents and a volunteer certificate with him. He is suitable for service in the [TRC] and rear support units.'Ukrainian ground forces confirmed the incident, writing in a statement: 'The citizen, as a driver, was part of the group that accompanied the foreign actress Angelina Jolie. 'At the time of clarifying all circumstances, this group was nearby.'When all circumstances were clarified, the famous actress continued on her planned route.'Neither she nor her representatives influenced the work of military personnel and civil servants of the TRC and the Recruitment Centre, as some posts on the Internet try to suggest.'The regional military recruitment offiсe in Mykolaiv confirmed Jolie's driver was a military reservist and was ordered to come to military retraining. It was not immediately clear if the driver had been allowed to continue working with her.The Daily Mail has contacted Jolie's representatives for comment.  Jolie was in Ukraine as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador on her second visit of the war. She was earlier seen visiting children living in the frontline region which is subjected to daily strikes by Putin's forces.Ukraine is seeking to crackdown on citizens who try and evade the military call-up.Last week, it was revealed that almost 100,000 fighting-age men have fled Ukraine in the last two months after President Volodymyr Zelensky relaxed the rules to allow young men to leave the country. Poland's border guard said 99,000 Ukrainian men aged 18 to 22 have crossed the border since August.The new rules mean men between the ages of 18 and 22 are no longer barred from leaving Ukraine. Previously, men between 18 and 60 had been obliged to stay by law since the onset of the war.The martial law was introduced to ensure the army had enough manpower to defend the country against Russia's onslaught. The draft age is currently 25 to 60 years old, having been reduced from 27 in April 2024.Kyiv guards its official death toll, but estimates made by US officials range from 60,000 to 100,000 troops killed since 2022.

source : Daily mail