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TCK employees have recruited nearly 300 'ghost workers': details of the scheme

TCK employees have recruited nearly 300 'ghost workers': details of the scheme

26 May 2026, 14:46

TCK employees have recruited nearly 300 'ghost workers': details of the scheme — Officials suspected of involvement in the TCC

Three officials from district territorial recruitment centres (TRCs) are suspected of carrying out a sham mobilisation. According to the investigation, in order to report that they had successfully met their targets, they fabricated the names of people who had never been mobilised.

This was announced by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.

The suspects are the 49-year-old head of the Mukachevo District Military Registration and Enlistment Office, his 37-year-old deputy, and the 41-year-old acting head of the Zolochiv District Military Registration and Enlistment Office.

The prosecutor’s office states that, having access to the ‘Oberig’ state register, they logged into the system using personal digital certificates and entered false data into the records of those liable for military service.

Law enforcement officials claim that, in order to improve the statistics, they included deceased and convicted persons, those entitled to deferment or special registration, citizens already serving or studying at military universities, as well as those who are no longer subject to mobilisation due to their age, in the list of ‘mobilised’ individuals.

Furthermore, Kravchenko adds, officials signed fake roll-call lists of conscripts who were supposedly already serving in military units. In reality, however, none of these people had been conscripted, and the forged documents were simply sent to regional military registration and enlistment offices and the Special Forces to improve the statistics.

For instance, the head of the Mukachevo District Military Registration and Enlistment Office fictitiously mobilised 162 people in January–March 2026 alone, whilst his 37-year-old deputy added a further 108 people to the fake statistics over the same period, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The acting head of the Zolochiv District Military Registration and Enlistment Office, according to the investigation, ‘drafted’ six people in November–December 2025 who were in fact already serving on contract at the National Guard Military Hospital and other military units.

All three officials have been charged. The court remanded the Transcarpathian colonel and his deputy, a major, in custody with bail set at 3.9 million hryvnias and 3.3 million hryvnias respectively. A preventive measure was also imposed on the lieutenant colonel from Lviv region — bail of 121,100 hryvnias.

Law enforcement agencies are continuing to identify all those involved and investigate other regions for similar schemes.

As a reminder, the TCC previously explained why mobile phones are confiscated during mobilisation.

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