"Ukrainians accounted for the biggest share of the 1,400 illegal border crossings on the Europe’s eastern borders in the second quarter of this year," Frontex said in its Eastern European Borders Quarterly report.
Only nine of the 163 Ukrainians detected for illegal border-crossing were reportedly in connection with irregular migration, the agency said. Over half of the other cases were linked to smuggling and another 39 percent to other reasons, the report said.
Ukrainian, Georgian and Moldovan citizens make up 47 percent of illegal border crossings during the same period, with mainly Afghan and Vietnamese citizens accounting for the rest.
The EU border protection agency noted an 82-percent increase in illegal border crossings as compared with the previous three months in 2015.
Frontex said the escalation was driven by mostly Vietnamese and Afghan refugees, but the number of Syrian nationals dropped in comparison to the first quarter of 2015.
