The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police have uncovered and shut down eight schemes aimed at evading mobilisation, detaining their organisers across multiple regions of Ukraine.

For fees ranging from USD 2,000 to USD 17,500, the organisers offered conscripts assistance in evading military service by providing forged documents or facilitating illegal border crossings outside checkpoints.

In Kyiv region, the SSU’s Kyiv Office exposed officials of the State Research and Design Institute of Urban Planning who were profiting from the fraudulent ‘reservation’ of conscripts for positions at the institute.

The investigation established that the institute’s director authorised orders appointing draft dodgers to staff positions, while his two accomplices – the first deputy director and the chief accountant –were responsible for recruiting the men.

These illegal activities caused financial losses to the institution, as salaries were paid to fictitious employees who neither reported to work nor performed any duties.

Investigators also documented that the officials involved in the scheme expressed support for the kremlin regime during internal meetings and denied russia’s war crimes.

All suspects have been suspended from their positions and notified of suspicion.

In a separate case in the region, a former official of the Kyiv City State Administration was detained for accepting bribes in exchange for placing conscripts in positions at a municipal enterprise, thereby enabling them to evade mobilisation. The law enforcement officers apprehended the suspect while he was receiving payment for his ‘services’.

In Dnipropetrovsk oblast, medical personnel were exposed for issuing fictitious medical certificates indicating serious illnesses and granting disability status to draft evaders.

According to the investigation, the scheme was organised by a former hospital employee, who enlisted a neurosurgeon and the head of a neurology department, who was also a member of the military medical commission.

The perpetrators admitted ‘clients’ for inpatient treatment and carried out unnecessary surgical procedures to justify medical reports diagnosing severe conditions.

In Poltava region, another surgeon and six conscripts were exposed; the doctor had unlawfully classified them as disabled, resulting in their removal from military registration.

The law enforcement also detained an intermediary who arranged false certificates of medical unfitness through connections with doctors.

In Lviv region, a military officer was exposed for promising to secure a deferment for a conscript through a regional military medical facility by attempting to influence its officials.

Another suspect in the same region offered, for a fee, to help a conscript obtain legal guardianship over his mother as a means of evading mobilisation.

In Cherkasy region, the law enforcement detained the organiser of an illegal scheme to smuggle draft dodgers into the EU, evading official checkpoints. The ‘service package’ included detailed escape routes to a neighbouring country and remote guidance during travel along mountain paths.

All individuals involved have now been notified of suspicion under several Articles of the CCU, including:

• 114-1.1, 15.2, 28.2 – attempted obstruction of the lawful activities of the AFU during a special period, committed by a group by prior conspiracy;
• 332.1, 332.3 – illegal transportation of persons across Ukraine’s state border;
• 336.1, 27.2 – aiding and abetting evasion of military service during mobilisation or during a special period;
• 27.5, 368.3 – complicity in obtaining an unlawful benefit by a public official;
• 369.3 – offering, promising, or providing an unlawful benefit to a public official;
• 369-2.3 – abuse of influence.

The suspects face up to 10 years of imprisonment and confiscation of property.

The operations were conducted under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutors’ Offices.