Ternopil Customs Officer Arrested for Selling Draft Deferral for $5,000

Ukrainian security services arrested a chief state inspector of the Ternopil customs department on September 7 for allegedly selling a military draft deferral for $5,000. The inspector promised a conscript daytime study and a legal deferral, arranging enrollment in a professional pre-higher education institution in Vinnytsia and subsequent transfer to West Ukrainian National University. The scheme ran from February to September 2026, with payments split into installments: $3,000 before enrollment, $500 near the institution before exams, totaling a first tranche of $3,500, and a remaining $1,500 after the deferral appeared in the Reserve+ app. The officer was caught during the final transfer of $1,500.

Searches at his home, workplace, vehicle, and the educational institutions yielded part of the bribe, phones used in the scheme, and documents. Suspicion has been formally declared; the measure of restraint is detention with a bail alternative of about 67,000 hryvnias.

The investigation is led by the territorial department of the State Bureau of Investigation in Lviv, with operational support from the Security Service of Ukraine in the Ternopil region and procedural guidance from the regional prosecutor's office. Authorities are also seeking accomplices among teachers in the Ternopil and Vinnytsia regions.

The case highlights corruption within customs facilitating draft evasion while other citizens are mobilized. The inspector's name has not been disclosed.