The SSU and the National Police have dismantled nine new draft evasion schemes in various regions of Ukraine, detaining 23 organizers.

For fees of up to USD 23,000, the criminals helped military-age men evade conscription by using fake documents or illegally transporting them across the border outside official checkpoints.

In Kharkiv, five suspects were detained. They were a head of the therapy department, a neurologist, a local hospital driver, as well as a data entry clerk for expert panels and an intermediary who sold fake medical certificates to evaders  used to obtain disability status.

According to law enforcement estimates, those involved in the scheme forged documents for over 100 clients. During 40 searches, authorities seized more than 12 million UAH from the detainees, likely obtained through criminal means.

In Lviv region, the SSU counterintelligence detained a head of a department at a defense enterprise who had accepted bribes in exchange for helping evaders find employment in ‘reserved’ positions at a strategically important facility.

In Mykolaiv, officers from the SSU Main Office in Kyiv and Kyiv region detained three local residents who were selling fake passports and driver’s licenses from a South Caucasus country to evaders.

To avoid detection, the perpetrators sent the completed documents to clients via postal services and received payment for their ‘services’ through bank transfers, avoiding direct contact.

It has been documented that the suspects had prepared more than 150 forged documents for sale, which persons liable for military service planned to use during document checks by Territorial Recruitment Center personnel and law enforcement officers.

In Kirovohrad region, a director of a private medical facility was exposed for organizing a scheme to falsify medical records in order to secure disability status for evaders.

It has been established that the official referred clients for inpatient treatment and then provided them with fake medical reports containing serious diagnoses.

In Kyiv, three more suspects were detained. They were a local businessman, a manager of a hostel, and his assistant, who together organized an illegal ‘transfer’ of evaders across Ukraine’s western border.

In Dnipro, a blogger was detained for ‘leaking’ the locations of mobile units of the Territorial Recruitment Center and law enforcement officers on his TikTok account, which has an audience of nearly 7,000 followers, in order to avoid mobilization checks.

While working as a driver for a private company, the suspect used his work trips to track the locations where military personnel and police officers were deployed.

In addition, in Dnipro, a criminal was detained selling fake medical certificates to evaders claiming they needed surgery due to ‘poor’ health.

The suspect then promised clients that he would use his personal connections within the Military Medical Commission to have potential conscripts written off the military registry.

In Ivano-Frankivsk region, SSU officers, in cooperation with border guards, detained six more organizers involved in the illegal smuggling of conscripts across the border. For a fee, the criminals prepared routes for their clients to cross the border through mountainous terrain.

In Khmelnytskyi region, two residents of Kamianets-Podilskyi were caught smuggling evaders to a neighboring Eastern European country outside of checkpoints.

It has been established that the suspects provided clients with a ‘detour’ route and promised to assist them in further legalization outside Ukraine.

The detainees have been served with notices of suspicion under several articles of the CCU:

• 369-2.3 (receiving an unlawful benefit in exchange for influencing a decision made by an authorized official);
• 114-1.2 (obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations during a state of emergency);
• 332.3 (illegally transporting persons across the state border of Ukraine).

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

The operations were carried out under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General's Office, regional prosecutor’s offices, the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office, the Kamianets-Podilskyi District Prosecutor’s Office, and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Defense of the Western Region.