A soldier from the Kharkiv region is suspected of arranging a sham marriage to help a draft dodger leave the country
Law enforcement officials have served notices of suspicion to the head of the inspection and technical station at a military unit in the Kharkiv region and his accomplice in a case involving the illegal smuggling of a conscript abroad and human trafficking.
According to the investigation, in May 2026, the suspects organized a scheme to facilitate the departure of a man of conscription age who had no legal grounds to leave Ukraine during martial law.
To carry out the plan, according to the investigation, they used a 27-year-old woman with a Group II disability. One of the suspects, who had known her for over ten years, allegedly took advantage of her trust and difficult circumstances to persuade her to enter into a sham marriage with an unknown man.
After the marriage was registered, the conscript was to be able to travel abroad as the husband of a person with a disability. The organizers of the scheme demanded $10,000 for their services.
On May 27, law enforcement officers documented the marriage registration and the transfer of the first installment of the agreed-upon sum—$5,000. After receiving the funds, the suspects were detained.
During searches, cash, cell phones, and the victim’s documents were seized. The court remanded the suspects into custody with the possibility of bail and seized their property.
The investigation is also examining their possible involvement in other schemes to illegally transport conscripts across the state border.
Source: Office of the Prosecutor General.
In the Kyiv region, doctors were caught issuing fictitious psychiatric diagnoses to draft dodgers.
As a reminder, the organizer of a scheme to smuggle draft dodgers for $12,000 was detained in Kyiv.
