The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police have dismantled four new schemes to evade mobilisation across several regions of Ukraine.

Eight organisers of these schemes have so far been detained; for sums of up to USD 15,000, they helped men evade conscription by using forged documents or smuggling them illegally abroad.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, the SSU Counterintelligence exposed three officials from one of the departments of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, as well as the directors of a school and a lyceum, who had fictitiously employed draft dodgers as ‘teachers’ at their educational institutions.

It has been established that these fake teachers not only received exemption from service but also salaries totalling over UAH 800,000, which they handed over to their employers.

In the Poltava region, the head of the neurology department at a local hospital came under suspicion for selling forged medical certificates stating severe illnesses to conscripts.

Her ‘clients’ used the fake diagnoses to apply for disability status and be removed from military registration.

In Kryvyi Rih, a trafficker was detained whilst attempting to smuggle potential conscripts into the European Union, evading checkpoints. The route ran from the Donetsk region through the Dnipropetrovsk region, and then towards the border area of the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

To transport men from the frontline region to the Carpathian foothills, the suspect used his own car and a forged ID card identifying him as a member of a ‘civil anti-corruption committee’.

By using the forged document, the organiser hoped to pass through checkpoints on roads across various regions of Ukraine unhindered.

In the Kirovohrad region, the head of the surgical department at a district hospital was exposed for promising, in exchange for money, to help a conscript obtain a medical certificate to be removed from the military register.

The perpetrator planned to use his personal connections to influence members of the expert panel during the re-assessment of his ‘client’s’ state of health.

The detained individuals have now been notified of their status as suspects under the following Articles of the CCU, according to each suspect’s actions:

• 27.3, 28.2, 114-1.1 (aiding and abetting the obstruction of the lawful activities of the AFU during a state of emergency, committed by a group, by prior conspiracy);
• 27.5, 191.4 (aiding and abetting the misappropriation of property through abuse of official position, committed on a large scale under martial law);
• 332.33 (unlawful smuggling of persons across the state border of Ukraine, committed by a group, by prior conspiracy, for financial gain);
• 358.3 (forgery of documents, seals, stamps and forms; sale or use of forged documents, seals or stamps);
• 362.3 (unauthorised actions involving information processed by electronic computers, automated systems or computer networks, or stored on data storage media, committed by a person authorised to access such information).

The suspects face up to 9 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The operations were carried out under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Offices.