Complete price list: up to $50,000 for "freedom": how mobilization turned into a corrupt business

The full-scale war has not destroyed corruption — it has only made it more expensive. The mobilization system increasingly resembles a market where, for money, you can buy time, status, or even a chance to avoid service. “Ekonomichna Pravda” April 6 2026 reported on the state of affairs in this area.

A telling example is the declaration of a serviceman of the Bucha TCC Oleh Kolomiiets for 2025: gold bars worth 7.7 million UAH, $43.5 thousand and euros in cash alongside an official income of only 366 thousand UAH. The origin of these assets is not explained, but the situation itself heightens suspicions about the scale of shadow schemes.

At the intersection of TCCs, VLKs and registries an informal “service market” has formed. The cheapest is data correction or removal from the wanted list, more expensive is a deferral or a “correct” medical conclusion, and the most expensive is a full package with documents, commission decisions and the ability to travel abroad.

According to investigations and court materials, prices range from $300 to $50,000. In different regions the “services” demanded included: $3–7 thousand for a deferral or removal from the registry, $20 thousand for a reservation, up to $25–50 thousand for fictitious disability and exit abroad. Separate schemes operate with fake employment and “medical” decisions, where the price can reach $16–18 thousand just for a diagnosis.

• up to $3 thousand: basic “services” (removal from the wanted list, data updates, a “pause” without contact with the TCC).
• $4–7 thousand: avoiding a summons, deferrals.
• $10–12 thousand: travel abroad.
• $16–25 thousand: “packages” (VLK, documents, unfitness).
• up to $50 thousand: full set (disability + travel).
• up to hundreds of thousands of dollars: large corruption schemes.

How large the corruption market around the TCCs is — no one knows for sure. Public estimates range from €800 million to €2.1 billion per year. Formally, such actions are punishable: for bribery — up to 4 years imprisonment, for “influence” via intermediaries — up to 2 years. But the scale of cases shows that supply and demand in this market remain stable even during the war. While the state retains the monopoly on coercion, it is losing the monopoly on fairness. Alongside the formal procedure there exists a black market that continues to live and profit.

Previously we wrote:

• Director of a national park in Mykolaiv region suspected of issuing fictitious salaries and deferrals from mobilization
• Up to $80k for helping draft-dodgers: in Kyiv — 63 cases against TCC employees, says the special prosecutor’s office
• In Mykolaiv another TCC staff member detained after receiving a bribe: for $600 he promised to remove someone from the wanted list in the ‘Oberig’ registry
• In Mykolaiv TCC military personnel detained on a bribe: for $2,400 they promised to “remove from the wanted list”
• “Reserve+” and fake certificates: how service without risk was sold in the Mykolaiv region