Ukraine police raid draft officers over suspected graft

Ukraine recruits practising military skills
Enthusiasm to serve in Ukraine's army has been dampened by reports of heavy-handed draft officers. -AP

Authorities in Ukraine have conducted dozens of searches across 16 regions ‌into current and former draft officials suspected of corruption-related offences, police ‌say.

The military has been chronically short ‌of men while fighting Russia's full-scale invasion, which began in early 2022, amid reports that officials have been bribed to grant exemptions from the call-up or to ‌let men ‌of ⁠fighting age slip out of the country ​despite a ban.

The National Police said they had seized money, cars and motorcycles and filed more than 150 administrative charges for violations such as illegal enrichment and ⁠the false declaration of assets.

"These ‌operations ​are aimed not only at exposing isolated incidents of ​corruption but ‌at the systemic cleansing of abuse from the sphere ​of recruitment," it said in a statement.

"The aim is to restore trust in institutions ​that, ​in wartime, perform a ​critically important function for ‌the state."

Ukraine's military has been generally outmanned and outgunned, and enthusiasm to serve has been dampened by reports of poor training, corruption and heavy-handed draft officers, ​in addition to grim conditions at the front ​in a brutal ⁠war of attrition.