Medics in Odesa region fabricated illnesses to obtain deferments for $8,000

In Odesa region, medical workers allegedly offered men eligible for military service fake documents to obtain Group III disability status, which was supposed to grant them a deferment from mobilization. They reportedly charged US$8,000 for this medical assistance. The scheme was exposed by the Territorial Office of the State Bureau of Investigation in Mykolaiv. According to the Territorial Office of the SBI in Mykolaiv.

Investigators believe the scheme was organized by a doctor at one of the emergency medical care and disaster medicine centers in Odesa region. According to this account, he recruited another six medical workers from various specialties.

Investigators describe the following process for producing fake documents:

• The alleged organizer sought men willing to pay for forged medical documents. His associates were then brought in.
• A family doctor entered referrals for examinations into the electronic system, including for men who had not signed declarations with her.
• To substantiate the fabricated illnesses, the scheme’s participants substituted biological samples from healthy men and falsified laboratory test results.
• The medical workers also produced forged reports from CT scans of the pelvic organs and hip joints. These listed “avascular necrosis” and “arthrosis,” although the men had not actually undergone these examinations.

On the basis of this package of falsified documents, the doctor promised to arrange disability status for his clients.

On November 5, 2026, SBI officers detained the alleged organizer. He was notified of suspicion of accepting an undue advantage in exchange for influencing a decision by a person authorized to perform state functions, involving the extortion of such an advantage. The charge is under Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The court ordered the suspect held in custody, with the option of posting bail set at 1.6 million hryvnias. The penalty for the offense carries a sentence of up to eight years in prison.

The pretrial investigation is ongoing. Investigators are establishing how the scheme operated and assessing the actions of other medical workers believed to have been involved. The question of what preventive measures to impose on them is still being considered.

We previously reported:

• Fake illnesses for $8,000: Odesa region doctor promised removal from military registration
• A cancer patient’s kidney stone for a draft dodger: doctor exposed in cynical mobilization scheme
• Paper disability status for a deferment and $450,000: Mykolaiv court gives MSEC chief a suspended sentence
• Selling “exemption from war”: Mykolaiv doctors jailed over disability scheme
• Money instead of conscience: how a doctor helped people evade military service