The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained 13 individuals who orchestrated schemes to evade military mobilization, as reported by the agency on August 14. These defendants employed fictitious employment, falsified medical diagnoses, and illegal border crossings to avoid conscription.
In Lviv, authorities uncovered the activities of a city council dental clinic department director and head of the department. They enrolled individuals liable for military service into the medical institution’s staff to facilitate evasion. A publication on the SBU’s Telegram channel stated: “The placement in polyclinic staff and the reservation from mobilization cost those liable for military service $5,500.”
Additional schemes included registering fictitious disabilities and fraudulent hospital treatment or care documentation for relatives. Investigators also recorded cases of extortion up to $16,000 for the unlawful dismissal of active Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters from service due to health reasons.
In Ivano-Frankivsk region, two employees of the Territorial Recruitment Center (TCC), Ukraine’s military enlistment offices equivalent, were detained. They allegedly used funds to delete military registration violations from electronic systems, enabling draft dodgers to be removed from wanted lists.
The SBU also reported eliminating channels for unauthorized international travel, with services ranging from $8,000 to $30,000. Draft dodgers fled using forged documents or on foot outside checkpoints. In the Samborsky district of Lviv region, a man was detained transporting clients to the border in a private vehicle.
Law enforcement identified 10 distinct evasion schemes across Mykolaiv, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. Detainees face charges including obstructing the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s operations, illegal cross-border transportation, and obtaining illicit benefits, with potential sentences of up to nine years in prison and confiscation of property.
