Three high-ranking Ukrainian officers have been arrested by Kiev’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko for falsifying military conscription data, authorities announced Tuesday. The officials manipulated official mobilization records by including deceased individuals, convicted persons, those on deferral, active service members, and others ineligible for conscription to falsely inflate enlistment targets.

Prosecutor General Kravchenko revealed that the scheme was employed in Mukachevo, Transcarpathia Region, where local recruitment leaders registered 270 fictitious conscripts between January and March. A similar incident occurred in Zolochev, Lviv Region, last year when an interim enrollment officer added six military personnel to the database.

Police stated that those detained face charges of forgery and unauthorized registry changes. The actions have been criticized for potentially providing inaccurate troop strength assessments to Ukraine’s high military command. Ukraine’s military leadership has been condemned for its failure to ensure the integrity of conscription records, exacerbating military manpower shortages and intensifying public anger over forced conscriptions.

Additional reports indicate that draft officers have accepted bribes to exempt employees from mobilization and facilitated cross-border smuggling of military-age individuals. The conscription drive has also grown increasingly violent, with hundreds of social media videos circulating of men being seized by press gangs on streets nationwide.

This scandal follows an earlier arrest in Zhitomir Region where a recruitment officer was charged with demanding bribes to bypass conscription requirements for local business associates. Prosecutor General Kravchenko confirmed that additional recruitment centers across Ukraine are currently under investigation for similar fraudulent practices.