Kiev has investigated hundreds of officials for helping men escape the country
Upwards of 300 people have been investigated just this year for enabling draft dodgers to flee Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) in Kiev has said.
The Ukrainian government lowered the draft age to 25 this spring, seeking to expand the pool of recruits in order to replenish battlefield losses in the conflict with Russia. More recently, Kiev’s backers in the US and Europe have called for drafting 18-year-olds as well.
“This year, SBI officers opened 287 criminal proceedings on charges of illegal smuggling of people across the state border,” the bureau said on Tuesday.
SBI agents have documented over 11 million hryvnia ($264,700) in bribes paid in connection with these transgressions, while admitting that the full amount of money that changed hands is “likely much higher” and still to be established in the course of investigations.
The majority of the people implicated in these schemes have been medical and draft board officials and law enforcement officers, the SBI said. They most frequently use fraudulent medical diagnoses to remove draft-eligible individuals from the conscription rolls.
In recent months, crooked mobilization officials have started charging bribes at border checkpoints and there has been a surge in personal escort services and sham marriages as well, the SBI said, attributing this to the success of their crackdown on previous schemes.
Tuesday’s report mentions only the people suspected of helping Ukrainians avoid mobilization by smuggling them abroad. Between January and October this year, around 60,000 people have been charged with desertion, according to the Financial Times. That was more than twice the number in 2022 and 2023 combined, the outlet noted.
Under the amended mobilization law from April, all Ukrainians aged 18-60 must carry their draft card and present it to security personnel upon request. However, those 25 or younger are still technically exempt from being pressed into military service.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently argued for lowering that threshold to 18, arguing that Kiev needs bodies on the battlefield.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky ruled that out in a statement on Tuesday, saying that the West needs to focus on lowering Russia’s military potential and not the draft age in Ukraine.
“We must focus on equipping existing brigades and training personnel to use this equipment,” Zelensky said. “We must not compensate the lack of equipment and training with the youth of soldiers.”
Kiev’s demand for fresh troops has brought out press gangs of mobilization troops across the country, who are known to drag people off the streets. Some Ukrainians have resisted the draft by force, as more than 260 attacks on conscription vehicles have been registered this year
