Law enforcement officers have documented 446 cases of fictitious mobilisation at the Territorial Recruitment Centres in the Chernivtsi, Ternopil and Zakarpattia regions. According to the investigation, officials entered false information into the «Oberig» register regarding people who had allegedly been called up, in order to inflate the figures for the fulfilment of mobilisation targets. Nine individuals have been placed under suspicion.
Briefly about the main points
- This refers to false entries in the register, not to people actually being sent to military units.
- Investigators recorded the largest number of incidents in Zakarpattia — 329 entries.
- In the Ternopil region, a deceased soldier and a captive defender were registered as having been mobilised.
- In Bukovina, the investigators report that 99 records were created over a three-month period.
- Pre-trial measures have already been imposed on most of the suspects.
How the scheme involving registry entries worked
Prosecutors from the specialised defence prosecution offices in the Western Region and the police carried out an inspection of the territorial centres’ operations. According to the investigation, officials used their access to the Unified State Register of Conscripts, Persons Liable for Military Service and Reservists, as well as their own electronic signatures, to enter false information.
People were recorded in the system as having been mobilised, even though no actual conscription took place. In some instances, military personnel who were already serving were included in the statistics more than once. Consequently, the cases identified do not mean that all these people were unlawfully sent to military units.
«Oberig» is the digital backbone of military registration, and the data from it is used by the «Reserve+.» and an electronic military registration document. The Ministry of Defence notes that changes to the register are signed using the authorised employee’s personal electronic key, which makes it possible to trace the author and the time at which the data was entered.
In Bukovina, investigators have reported 99 false entries
In the Chernivtsi region, a 35-year-old former head of one of the district military registration and enlistment offices has been placed under suspicion. According to the case file, between January and March 2026, he entered details of 99 people who had allegedly been mobilised.
According to the investigation, the official fabricated some of the personal details. For other entries, he used information about military personnel who had already completed their service, thereby creating a false impression in the register regarding the number of people conscripted by the centre.
In the Ternopil region, a deceased person and a prisoner of war have been added to the list
The former head of the district military registration and enlistment office in the Ternopil region is suspected of falsifying 18 conscription records in March 2026. He is 39 years old.
Among the people listed in the register as having allegedly been mobilised was a serviceman who had already died by that time. Another defender was being held as a prisoner of war by the Russians. According to the findings of the investigation, neither of them could have been mobilised via this district centre during the period in question.
The largest incident was recorded in Zakarpattia
In Transcarpathia Law enforcement officers documented 329 cases of fraudulent mobilisation — almost three-quarters of all incidents identified during the investigations. The investigation identifies the organiser of the scheme as a 36-year-old man who was, at the time, the deputy head of one of the district military registration and enlistment offices.
According to law enforcement officials, the group comprised the centre’s acting head, his deputy and staff at one of the branches. They allegedly re-entered the names of people who had already been mobilised into the register, issuing them with new call-up orders and even recording that they had undergone a military medical examination.
Precautionary measures and the ongoing investigation
Charges have been brought against two former heads of district election commissions in the Chernivtsi and Ternopil regions, as well as seven individuals implicated in the Transcarpathian case. Preventive measures have already been imposed on most of them.
As regards the former head of the district election commission in the Ternopil region, the issue of a preventive measure is still being decided. Law enforcement agencies are continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding the entry of false information into the register and to identify all those who may have been involved in the schemes.
