Thousands of Ukrainians have paid hefty bribes to “corrupt army recruiters” in order to avoid being drafted as Russia continues its special military operation in Ukraine, a UK newspaper has reported.
According to the newspaper, the cost of bribes differs across Ukraine, with “many draft dodgers […] asked to pay $6,000 for a medical certificate granting them an exemption from military service.”
In this vein, the media outlet mentioned head of the Odessa regional recruitment center Evgeny Borisov, who was arrested in July after he was accused of bagging more than $5 million worth of bribes to approve exemptions.
The newspaper claimed that "depending on his cut of bribes that varied between $2,000 and $10,000 per person, Borisov helped hundreds and possibly thousands of men avoid being drafted."
The news outlet quoted Ukrainian investigators as saying that the man used most of the ill-gotten cash to buy a €4.2 million ($4.6 million) villa in Spain in December and to illegally travel abroad for holidays, including to the Seychelles.
A total of 13,600 Ukrainian men have reportedly been caught trying to cross into neighboring countries outside the official checkpoints; 6,100 more have been arrested as they attempted to use fake documents at regular border crossings, according to the newspaper. This followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier ordering the sacking of all the country’s regional army recruitment chiefs suspected of being involved in corruption schemes.
The UK newspaper, in turn, separately referenced videos of “unwilling draftees being manhandled into cars by military recruitment officers,” as well as “stowaways on trains and trucks”, something that remains “a regular feature on Ukrainian news.”
The developments unfold amid Kiev’s botched counteroffensive, which was launched on June 4 but brought no results, causing huge losses in the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF), according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, said that since the beginning of the counteroffensive, the UAF has lost more than 43,000 soldiers and over 4,900 units of various weaponry, including 25 German-made Leopard tanks, seven French AMX wheeled tanks and 21 US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
Kiev, for its part, remains tight-lipped on UAF losses as millions of Ukrainians have left their country since the start of the Russian special military operation in a bid to escape the draft.