Law enforcement searches hundreds of military enlistment offices, medical commissions

Law enforcement agencies have simultaneously conducted hundreds of searches at enlistment offices and military medical commissions across Ukraine, revealing large-scale corruption schemes.

Officials in all Ukrainian regions are involved in the schemes, the National Police reported after carrying out over 200 searches on Aug. 22 together with prosecutors.

Among other misdeeds, suspects helped draft-age men obtain fake documents on having a disability or being temporarily unfit for military service in exchange for a financial reward, according to the report.

The National Police added it had opened criminal cases against all suspects and would publish the pre-trial investigations' results separately.

Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation reported carrying out searches at military medical commissions in Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, and Kyiv oblasts.

A total of 388 people are suspected of illegally issuing documents of unfitness for service, the Bureau wrote.

Donetsk Oblast enlistment office head charged with corruption, aiding criminals

The State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) announced on Aug. 4 that the head of the Donetsk Oblast military enlistment office had been charged with illegal payments to his subordinates and helping criminals avoid justice.

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek

The law enforcement body reportedly opened multiple criminal cases, including for power abuse committed by a military official under martial law.

Last week, the State Bureau of Investigation searched 15 military enlistment offices in Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson oblasts.

"Institutions are checked for possible corrupt actions of personnel during general mobilization, illegal 'exemption' from the mobilization of reserve officers and other conscripts," the agency added. "Such actions pose a direct threat to the national security of Ukraine and undermine trust in state institutions."

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 11 that the heads of all regional military enlistment offices across Ukraine would be dismissed.

The decision came after a nationwide inspection of Ukraine's recruitment offices revealed multiple violations, including corruption, power abuse, and fraud.

Ukrainian authorities launched the country-wide inspection after journalists discovered that the family of Yevhen Borysov, the former head of the Odesa Oblast military enlistment office, had acquired property worth $4.5 million in Spain during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.