Orphans used as decoys in Ukrainian draft-dodge scheme – ombudsman
Officials working with the Ukrainian social services used a group of orphans who were being evacuated to Germany to sneak their family members out of the country following the outbreak of the conflict, its human rights ombudsman has claimed.
Kiev banned all men of military age from traveling abroad without a special permit days after hostilities with Russia began in February 2022. However, Dmitry Lubinets revealed details of a potentially criminal scheme on Wednesday, which was aimed at getting Ukrainian men out of the country.
The alleged plot was uncovered earlier this year, when an official from the ombudsman’s office went to check on a group of 68 children from the Ukrainian foster system who had been living in Wuppertal, Germany since 2022.
They found that 13 children were missing and the group was unaccompanied by any Ukrainian carers.
Lubinets believes that two senior officials working with social services in Kiev used the evacuation of the children to get two of their relatives and a number of other adults out of Ukraine after the travel ban was introduced.
”The paperwork for the evacuation listed as accompanying officials people who had nothing to do with the system, some employed the day before departure and others not at all,” he said in a social media post.
”Each man resigned right after leaving the country and no longer works for the relevant organizations. Moreover, they did not go back to Ukraine.”
Lubinets said he has asked Ukrainian law enforcement to investigate his allegations. The Kiev prosecutor’s office announced on Thursday morning that it had launched a probe into the matter.
The ombudsman claims that the two social services officials had engaged in a coverup. One failed to write reports about inspections he supposedly made during visits to Germany, while the other submitted short, virtually identical texts for both 2022 and 2023.
Of the 4.2 million Ukrainians who had been granted international protection in Europe up to last April, around one-third were adult males, according to EU statistics. Germany has taken in just under a third of the total number – more than any other EU nation.
Public opposition to mobilization escalated this year after the Ukrainian government introduced a draconian reform to boost mandatory conscription numbers. An average of 200 men are now trying to illegally cross the border each day, the national parliament was told on Thursday.
