Assistants to MPs Hnatenko and Shufrych charged $16,000 to evade mobilization and then disappeared
Cash and phones were seized while receiving the money; Mykola Okhota and Viktoriya Pinchuk have been notified of suspicion of fraud and face up to 8 years in prison
15 April 2026 The Security Service of Ukraine, together with the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG), detained two assistants of members of parliament suspected of organizing a scheme to evade mobilization in Ukraine for money.
According to the SBU, the detainees offered men a 16 thousand dollar “service” — to avoid conscription or illegally cross the border.
According to the investigation, clients were promised forged documents: medical certificates declaring unfitness for service, fictitious disability certificates, or ID cards of participants in volunteer formations.
Law enforcement established that after receiving the funds the intermediaries stopped communicating with the “clients” and disappeared. They were detained during another handover of money, and during searches cash and phones with evidence of involvement in the scheme were seized.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, these are unpaid assistant-consultants: for MP Valeriy Hnatenko — Mykola Okhota, and for Nestor Shufrych — Viktoriya Pinchuk.
Both suspects have been notified of suspicion of large-scale fraud, which carries up to 8 years in prison. Investigative actions continue.
Earlier we wrote:
- Evasion for money: in Mykolaiv medics sold “disability” during the war
- In Kyiv, employees of the TCC who helped people evade conscription were exposed
- Turnkey medical certificate: an official in the Mykolaiv district was caught for $8,500
- Mobilization evasion sold wholesale: eight schemes exposed
- Large-scale operation: police foiled the escape of hundreds of men abroad, including from Mykolaiv region
