The Security Service, together with the Office of the Prosecutor General, State Bureau of Investigation, National Police and Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, conducted a large-scale special operation to shut down criminal schemes at customs. Within 24 hours, the SSU detained a high-ranking official of the State Customs Service in Kyiv and blocked schemes in three border regions simultaneously.

In the capital, the deputy director of the State Customs Service’s Department of International Cooperation was apprehended for bribery. The official was ‘making money’ on draft dodgers and foreign migrants.

It has been documented how the official offered conscripts money to evade mobilization.

To do this, he registered draft evaders as ‘public diplomats’ in a Kyiv public association working on behalf of a well-known international organization.

The perpetrator is also suspected of receiving bribes from illegal migrants from the Middle East who were planning to leave for the EU. For various sums, he promised them assistance in evading deportation and unhindered departure to the EU.

Currently, the official and his accomplice, an ‘intermediary’, are facing charges under three Articles of the CCU

Five schemes at customs offices in several regions of Ukraine were also uncovered as a result of the special operation.

In Odesa, four officials from the local customs office’s anti-smuggling department were exposed. They demanded money from entrepreneurs in exchange for not creating artificial obstacles during the export of goods from Ukraine.

Searches were also conducted in the region on officials at one of the customs posts who took bribes for customs clearance of products without paying customs duties.

Another scheme was dismantled in Volyn. There, customs officials unjustifiably cleared foreign cars for duty-free import, causing losses to the state budget of at least UAH 2.7 mln (USD 64 000).

In Chernivtsi region, customs officials will receive notices of suspicion for facilitating the smuggling of more than 250 boxes of cigarettes worth a total of UAH 11 mln (USD 262 000) to the EU.

These operations were carried out as part of the SSU’s systematic work to ensure counterintelligence protection of border infrastructure and to counter systemic threats to state governance. Among other things, this involves preventing foreign special services from influencing state officials at the border, preventing illegal migration, smuggling of weapons, drugs and other attempts to undermine Ukraine’s national security.

In the first half of 2025 alone, based on information provided by the SSU, the State Customs Service drew up 113 administrative reports on customs violations, resulting in additional revenues of over UAH 157 million (USD 3.7 mln) to the state budget. During the same period, the Security Service seized contraband worth over UAH 62 mln (USD 1.5 mln).

In total, over the first six months of this year, the SSU provided operational support in over 800 proceedings related to crimes at the border.

As for the facts recently uncovered in Kyiv and three Ukrainian regions, investigations are ongoing, initiated by the law enforcement agencies under several Articles of the CCU:

• 114-1.1 (obstruction of the lawful activities of the AFU, during a special period);
• 368 (acceptance of a proposal, promise or receipt of unlawful benefits by an official);
• 369-2 (abuse of influence);
• 201-3.3 (smuggling of goods);
• 190 (fraud);
• 364 (abuse of power or official position).

The suspects face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The operational and investigative actions were carried out under the procedural supervision of the Office of the Prosecutor General, as well as the Odesa, Volyn and Chernivtsi regional prosecutor’s offices.

Exactly one year ago, the SSU detained the director of the Department for Departmental Security and Control of the State Customs Service and his deputy on bribery charges.