{"id":599637,"date":"2026-07-22T12:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/2026\/07\/599637\/lubinets-tcc-demands-10-000-to-exit-a-minibus\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T12:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:28:19","slug":"lubinets-tcc-demands-10-000-to-exit-a-minibus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/en\/2026\/07\/599637\/lubinets-tcc-demands-10-000-to-exit-a-minibus\/","title":{"rendered":"Lubinets: TCC demands $10,000 to exit a minibus"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an interview with the publication \u00ab\u041d\u043e\u0432\u0438\u043d\u0438.LIVE\u00bb, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, reported a large-scale corruption crisis in the mobilization system, where financially able men buy their way out of service, while elderly people and those with serious illnesses are often drafted.<\/p>\n

According to the ombudsman, “tariffs” have formed in the country that effectively allow avoiding being sent to distribution centers for money, and this starts already at the moment documents are checked in public places or on transport.<\/p>\n

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“The TCK system has now turned into a situation where money is simply taken from a physically healthy person who needs to be mobilized \u2014 the person buys their way out. Everyone knows this. There are even price lists for how much you need to pay on the bus. The rate is twice as high \u2014 inside the TCK premises. I am told about 10<\/strong> thousand from a minibus, 20<\/strong> thousand \u2014 from the TCK premises. And you can pay like this every day. This is just to be let out. And tomorrow you can be caught again,” emphasized Dmytro Lubinets.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Such extortion becomes a regular “tax” for wealthy citizens in exchange for a temporary delay, while the burden of meeting mobilization quotas effectively falls on men without financial means, regardless of their health condition.<\/p>\n

Due to the need to meet conscription targets amid a shortage of suitable candidates, TCK staff, according to the ombudsman, increasingly take into the military persons of pre-retirement age and with medical contraindications, in particular men aged 57\u201359<\/strong> with serious diagnoses.<\/p>\n

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“We have a case in Zakarpattia \u2014 59<\/strong> years old. A person came for treatment. A person with medical documents gets off the train, who came for treatment in Zakarpattia. He is immediately met on the platform by TCK and SP employees. The man hands over his medical documents. As he told us, they looked at the medical documents and threw them away. The person was mobilized,” Dmytro Lubinets recounted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to the ombudsman, in that case five military units in a row refused to accept the man for service due to his health, and ultimately he was formally enrolled on the staff of the district TCK without assigned duties or equipment.<\/p>\n

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“When my representative arrived there in Zakarpattia, the person was brought to us to be shown. The person was in civilian clothes. And this despite the fact that he had already been a serviceman for two weeks. And the quite reasonable question: if the person is a serviceman, then where is the military uniform? What does this person do? And they still try, there is such a term, to ‘buy’ him from the military units. They wait for buyers,” noted Dmytro Lubinets.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Lubinets also explained the rise in conflicts between citizens and TCK employees by society\u2019s perception of impunity among officials who violate conscripts’ rights and mobilization procedures, which causes some people to try to seek justice by extra-legal means.<\/p>\n

In Ukraine, the problem of abuses in territorial recruitment centers remains one of the most acute: despite state measures taken, the Ombudsman’s Office and human rights organizations continue to receive and review appeals about forced detentions, ignoring VVK medical certificates and extortion of money.<\/p>\n

In response to the wave of high-profile cases, the state has already attempted a large-scale reshuffle of the leadership of regional TCKs and has stepped up the work of law enforcement bodies \u2014 the DBR, NAPC and SBU \u2014 to detect and stop shadow schemes of illegal enrichment.<\/p>\n

At the same time, reports about so-called “busifications”, refusal to recognize VVK certificates and corrupt pressure continue to be systematically submitted to the Ombudsman’s Office and remain the focus of human rights initiatives. Experts emphasize: as long as mobilization mechanisms rely on strict quantitative plans combined with broad discretionary powers of local military commissariats, the risks of corruption and social escalation remain at a critically high level.<\/p>\n

Earlier we wrote:<\/h3>\n