Ukraine police raid draft officers over suspected graft

Authorities in Ukraine have conducted dozens of searches in 16 regions on current and former military service members suspected of corruption-related crimes, police said.

The army is chronically short of men as it battles Russia’s full-scale invasion, which begins in early 2022, amid reports that officials have been bribed to grant exemptions from the summons or allow men of fighting age to flee the country despite the ban.

The National Police said they seized money, cars and motorcycles and filed more than 150 administrative charges for violations such as illegal enrichment and misrepresentation of assets.

❗️necessarily undeclared посадовців ТЦК: Нацполіція провела відпрацювання по Національна поліція України (@NPU_GOV_UA) May 4, 2026

“These operations aim not only to expose isolated cases of corruption, but also to systematically clean up abuse in the field of recruitment,” he said in a statement. he said.

“The aim is to restore confidence in the institutions that perform a critically important function for the state in wartime.”

The Ukrainian army was generally understaffed and outgunned, and willingness to serve was diminished by inadequate training, corruption, and heavy-handed recruiting officers, as well as harsh conditions at the front in a brutal war of attrition.