Ukraine's acting police chief reveals scale of draft evasion investigations
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Ukraine's National Police has investigated over 20,000 criminal cases of draft evasion since martial law was imposed at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, acting head of the National Police, Maksym Tsutskiridze, told Ukrainian outlet Censor.net in an interview published Aug. 17.
Police have also launched several wide-ranging probes into corruption in Ukraine's controversial regional recruitment centers and military medical commissions, according to Tsutskiridze.
He added that police have received 1.5 million requests from enlistment offices related to locating people suspected of evading mobilization.
Ukraine's conscription services have been a source of widespread controversy, and heavy-handed "busification," and abuse and corruption in the services have frequently caused domestic discontent and been amplified by anti-Ukraine figures abroad.
Tsutskiridze said the National Police have issued 76 heads of regional recruitment centers notifications of suspicion for involvement in various corruption schemes that have allowed individuals to avoid military service.
In one example, an official from a regional recruitment center in Rivne who was also a member of an organized crime network, offered to issue military registration documents with a "mark of unfitness for service and exclusion from military registration," in exchange for a bribe.
In Kherson, officials charged $7,000 per person to falsify records in the state "Oberih" registry, which allowed an otherwise eligible individual to escape military service.
Medical commissions, which are responsible for assessing whether a recruit is physically fit for military service, have also come under scrutiny, with thousands of cases of fictitious illnesses being recorded in medical records in order to allow a potential recruit to avoid military service.
Tsutskiridze claimed 6,500 rulings have been annulled since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, with over 1,600 other individuals being sent for re-examination.
The National Police has also been investigating a number of businesses which have been suspected of offering illegitimate reservations from military service.
A number of critically important companies are allowed to reserve employees from military service, Tsutskiridze said, but claimed the National Police are investigating 2,500 cases where individuals have been illegitimately reserved, most commonly due to fictitious employment.
