A criminal group including two border guards was detained in Ukraine on suspicion of receiving $15,000 each from men wanting to avoid mobilization, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies reported, quoted by “Reuters“, BTA reports.
According to police, the group helped about 30 people leave the country by registering them in their draft documents as unfit for military service (NGVS). Since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, Ukraine has banned most men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country.
The scheme was organized by a border guard and a businessman from the western Transcarpathian region. They were later joined by another border guard and other accomplices, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine said in a separate post on the social network “Telegram“.
Authorities have released photos of the detention of some of the suspects, taken at their homes. The images show large sums of cash in euros, mobile phones and luxury cars.
While many Ukrainians volunteer to serve in the country's defense, hundreds of thousands of men are subject to compulsory mobilization. Ukrainian authorities acknowledge that they are facing widespread attempts to evade military service.