Ukraine’s security service exposes six draft evasion schemes PHOTO

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), together with the National Police, has uncovered six new schemes used to evade military mobilisation and detained the organisers involved in these criminal networks.

The agencies reported that for amounts ranging from $2,000 to $20,000, individuals offered conscripts ways to avoid service through forged documents or assistance in illegally leaving the country, Caliber.Az reports, citing SBU.

In the Zakarpattia region, SBU military counterintelligence, together with the State Border Guard Service, detained a man who organised a smuggling channel for draft evaders to EU countries. Investigators said he formed a “convoy system” to transport military-age men across the western border. During movement, a “reconnaissance driver” would travel ahead to check for checkpoints along the route. He was followed by the main vehicle carrying clients.

If checkpoints were detected, passengers were dropped off nearby and provided with alternative route maps. The suspect was detained in the mountains of the Rakhiv district while transporting three draft evaders.

In the Lviv region, a psychiatrist at a central regional hospital was detained for allegedly offering to issue Group III disability status in exchange for a bribe. He also promised to “influence” members of an expert commission previously known as the MSEC.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, another suspect was exposed for forging military medical commission conclusions declaring individuals unfit for combat service. He offered already mobilised men fake medical documents to transfer them to rear units.

In the Odesa region, three employees of an emergency medical centre were detained for allegedly transporting draft evaders to Transnistria using ambulances. Separately, a local farmer organised an illegal “traffic route” for conscripts through forest paths with the help of a local transporter.

In Vinnytsia, a Kyiv resident was detained for organising an illegal channel across the Dniester River, ferrying draft evaders into a neighbouring country.

All suspects have been formally charged under Articles 332 (illegal border crossing facilitation) and 369-2 (abuse of influence) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. They face up to nine years in prison with asset confiscation.

By Jeyhun Aghazada