Ukraine arrests more local military recruitment officials

Ukrainian security forces have arrested several local military recruitment officials on charges of helping people avoid military service or flee the country.

"Officials took money from people who wanted to avoid military service, forged certificates that they were not fit for military service," the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on August 26.

According to the SBU, the amount of money that draft dodgers have to pay "depends on the time it takes to resolve the issue and their financial capabilities", and can be up to $10,000 per person.

The SBU said it had arrested four people at the local military recruitment office and military medical committee on charges of "assisting people in dodging military service or leaving the country".

Among the officials arrested were a head of a district-level military recruitment office and the head of a military medical commission in the capital. The two officials "sold fake medical certificates with serious diagnoses."

Ukrainian soldiers train near the front line in Donetsk on June 8. Photo: AFP — Ukrainian soldiers train near the front line in Donetsk on June 8. Photo: *AFP*

In Kharkiv province, a district recruitment office manager was arrested after making about $300,000 from helping people avoid military service through fake health certificates. The SBU said he colluded with three officials at a local hospital to commit the crime.

The SBU announced the suppression of a scheme to collect bribes through forging documents for draft dodgers in the Odessa region, involving a female secretary of the local military medical committee. "The secretary of the military medical committee and her accomplices were caught red-handed," the SBU said.

According to the SBU, the female secretary, a lawyer in Kiev and two other accomplices set up a large-scale fake documents trade. The suspects searched for people in need across Ukraine, then registered them at the local military recruitment office in Odessa Oblast and then removed them from the list due to ineligibility.

The SBU is working with the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and police to investigate other cases involving military recruitment offices across the country. The agency said those found guilty could face up to 10 years in prison and confiscation of property.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on August 11 that he had dismissed all provincial military recruitment officials in Ukraine following a series of corruption and bribery scandals.

Mr Zelensky said accepting bribes during a war was "treason", adding that the military recruitment system "should be run by people who understand exactly what war is".

After the war with Russia broke out in February 2022, Ukrainian men aged 18-60 were banned from leaving the country. They were required to be ready for military service if called upon, except for those exempted for medical reasons, studying abroad, being single fathers, having three or more children or caring for someone with a disability.

Thanh Danh (According to CNN )

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