Zheleznyak reported over 1,150 cases of fictitious bookings in Ukraine
Yaroslav Zheleznyak made this statement in a video on the “Iron MP” channel.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak stated that fake bookings have become one of the issues discrediting mobilisation in Ukraine.
According to him, the reservation system, which was supposed to protect the most important and critical sectors of the economy, has in practice turned into a way for the “chosen few” to avoid mobilisation or a lucrative business for some state-owned enterprises, government bodies and law enforcement agencies.
Zheleznyak referred to the NABU investigation “Clean City” and a report by Bihus.Info. He said that this story involved corrupt land deals in Kyiv, as well as a scheme to falsely register people to obtain exemptions. The MP noted that Kyiv’s municipal and state-owned enterprises were involved in this case.
He stated that a fake military registration gives a person two “bonuses” at once: they are not mobilised, and in some cases, such registration can also be used to travel abroad.
As an example, Zheleznyak cited his own investigation into schemes where men were allowed to travel abroad based on letters from the Ministry of Culture. According to him, among the “fake artists” and journalists, there were also schemes involving fictitious employment, notably at the National Circus Company.
The MP claims that people were hired and then sent on overseas business trips or tours. According to him, at least 78 men have left the country under this scheme with the circus and have not returned to date.
Zheleznyak also stated that some of them continued to receive salaries from the state budget for months after leaving, and only then were these people dismissed.
He also mentioned the cases of Volodymyr Petrov and Serhiy Ivanov. According to Zheleznyak, Petrov was booked through the state institution “National Military Memorial Cemetery”, whilst Ivanov was booked through the private company Star Trek Industries.
The MP noted that Star Trek Industries had won tenders from state-owned energy companies.
Zheleznyak stated that his investigations into the Ministry of Culture and individuals he describes as unofficial PR representatives of the President’s Office had consequences. According to him, a case has been opened regarding the Ministry of Culture, and the Office of the Prosecutor General has already raised suspicions.
Following the scandal involving the National Military Memorial Cemetery, according to Zheleznyak, Ivanov and Petrov were dismissed from their respective posts.
At the same time, the MP claims that, unlike Ivanov, Petrov did not join the army but was later re-employed through a private media company. According to Zheleznyak, this company was granted critical status due to its production of content for a state-run telethon.
Zheleznyak also mentioned individuals whom his sources link to anonymous Telegram channels. He stated that the SBU had officially confirmed in a letter that at least three suspected owners of such channels are on the Security Service of Ukraine’s reserve list.
These are Oleg Artun-Nyants and Bohdan Tymashchuk, whom Zheleznyak’s sources link to the Times of Ukraine and Ukraine Online channels, as well as Andriy Sakharov, whom his sources name as the owner of Insider UA.
According to the MP, all three have been removed from the Armed Forces’ records and are formally in the SBU’s reserve. At the same time, Zheleznyak claims that they are not actually serving there.
The MP emphasised that these cases are not isolated. He referred to a report by “Ekonomichna Pravda”, which analysed court records.
According to data cited by Zheleznyak, since September 2024, over 1,150 criminal cases have been recorded in Ukraine concerning fictitious employment for the purpose of obtaining military exemption.
The MP added that another case concerning the management of the National Military Memorial Cemetery should be added to this figure.
According to Zheleznyak, in almost half of the cases where law enforcement established that employment was fictitious for the purpose of obtaining military exemption, the employers were state-owned or municipal enterprises.
He cited Kharkiv as an example. According to the MP, around 70 men there received deferrals as teachers, although they never taught a single day, never went to school and never delivered a single lesson.
Another example is Odesa. Zheleznyak stated that a municipal enterprise there had fictitiously registered 90 people who were simply listed for deferment.
He said that not only were they granted deferrals and the opportunity to leave the country, but they were also paid official salaries from the Odessa budget. The approximate sum cited by the MP was around 15 million hryvnias.
Zheleznyak also mentioned Mukachevo. According to him, there the deputy head of the State Tax Service was registering people who never actually turned up for work.
The MP stated that in such cases, it is not just about privileges, but also about money and corruption. According to him, fictitious employment for deferment could cost “thousands of dollars”, and the price varied.
Separately, Zheleznyak drew attention to the fact that, in his words, the state not only fails to provide an independent oversight mechanism but often actually pays for such schemes with taxpayers’ money, as fictitiously registered individuals are paid salaries from state or municipal budgets.
According to Zheleznyak, despite over a thousand registered cases, there are currently only 45 convictions. He also claims that none of those convicted have been jailed, and most have received suspended sentences or small fines.
The MP described this as a double blow to the state. He said the state is losing public trust in the mobilisation process, cannot fill these posts with people who will actually work, and is spending budget funds on salaries for ‘ghost employees’.
Zheleznyak also stated that the problem cannot be solved by a single law. In his view, state and municipal enterprises, where fake bookings are made, are well aware of such schemes.
He criticised the work of law enforcement agencies, in particular the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR), the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). According to Zheleznyak, if they did not cover up such cases and did their job properly, there would be fewer people willing to organise such schemes.
Zheleznyak also mentioned the National Military Memorial Cemetery. He stated that the director of the institution, who, according to the MP, is linked to Petrov, has not yet been held to account, and the case was only opened following his insistence.
He also cited the example of Poltava and the fortifications. According to Zheleznyak, people were also being registered there for the sake of reservations. The MP claims that even after the scandal, investigations, statements and searches, some of these people continued to work.
Zheleznyak emphasised that criticism of mobilisation should not always be considered unconstructive. In his view, in the case of fake reservations, criminal case statistics, and examples from the Ministry of Culture and the National Military Memorial Cemetery, this constitutes fair criticism.
In the MP’s view, to combat such schemes, booking registers must be made public, at the very least for state-owned and municipal enterprises.
He stated that if the authorities fail to do so, investigative journalists and concerned citizens will still uncover people who are formally employed by such enterprises but do not actually perform the relevant work.
As reported by ThePublic, MP and member of the parliamentary committee on national security, defence and intelligence Fedir Venislavskyi stated that it is allegedly incorrect to speak of “hundreds of cases of ‘busification’ every day”, and the problem itself, in his view, is not “widespread at all”. He voiced this view against the backdrop of high-profile scandals surrounding the TCC, particularly following the arrest in Odesa of a group of military personnel and a police officer in a case involving the extortion of money in exchange for deferrals.
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