For $10,000, they issued fictitious disability certificates and admitted healthy men to hospital: State Bureau of Investigation has uncovered scheme in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. PHOTO
In the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, three businessmen have been exposed who, according to the investigation, promised conscripts that, for $10,000, they would arrange a fictitious Category III disability status to enable them to evade mobilisation. To create the appearance of illness, men without the relevant medical grounds were referred for inpatient treatment.
This was reported by the State Bureau of Investigations, as reported by Censor.NET.
How the fake disability scheme worked
According to the investigation, three businessmen from the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions sought out men who were having problems with their military registration.
The intermediaries claimed that, thanks to their connections among medical professionals and officials at regional recruitment and social support centres, they could help arrange disability status.
For $10,000, clients were promised not only the relevant medical documents but also exemption from receiving call-up notices whilst the paperwork was being processed.
To create a plausible medical history, the men were repeatedly sent to hospitals, including for inpatient treatment.
Those who refused to pay were threatened with being sent to the front
As investigators established, the intermediaries used intimidation to persuade clients to pay.
The men were told a story about another client who had allegedly refused to pay.
According to those involved, he was immediately mobilised and sent to the front line, without being given the opportunity to seek legal assistance.
The State Bureau of Investigation emphasises that the suspects used this story as a means of putting pressure on potential clients.
Three businessmen have been detained; medical staff and the Territorial Centre for Coordination are being investigated for possible involvement
In early November 2026, SBI officers detained three alleged organisers of the scheme after they had drawn up medical documents for another client. He had been promised help in being removed from military registration.
All three have been notified that they are suspected of receiving unlawful benefits in exchange for influencing the decisions of officials, committed as part of a prior conspiracy by a group of individuals (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The court imposed pre-trial measures on the suspects in the form of remand in custody, with the option of bail set at between 1.9 and 2.1 million hryvnias.
They face up to eight years’ imprisonment.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. Staff at the State Bureau of Investigation are identifying other possible participants in the scheme, in particular among medical staff and officials at district medical centres and specialised hospitals.
The Odesa Specialised Prosecutor’s Office for Defence in the Southern Region is overseeing the proceedings.
