Zelenskyy: military ask to mobilize more people

He said this at a briefing during a meeting of the Crimea Platform.

"To be honest, the military asked me to give them the opportunity to mobilize more people. I can't tell you anything else for now," Zelenskyy said.

Nevertheless, he stressed that the first step is to "put things in order" in military registration and enlistment offices.

"It is very important to understand who is doing this and how. The issue of military registration and enlistment offices is very important. We need to put things in order as soon as possible, and only then can we start talking about how to increase the number of people, by whom and with what," the President explained.

What is known about open cases against military recruitment officers

On July 26, the working groups of the Ministry of Defence received more than 2,300 appeals from citizens regarding corruption in the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centres. The State Bureau of Investigation issued 21 suspicion notices.

During nearly a hundred searches at the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centres in 11 regions of Ukraine, law enforcement officers uncovered a scheme to avoid military service.  

Law enforcement officials report that officials at one of the National Guard training centres were charging themselves and their subordinates a monthly supplement of UAH 100,000 which is supposed to be paid for direct participation in hostilities.

On August 3, the State Bureau of Investigation detained a Kyiv City Military Administration official suspected of organizing a scheme to smuggle men abroad with certificates of unfitness for military service.

The Security Service of Ukraine detained the head of a military registration and enlistment office in Poltava region, accusing him of taking a bribe. Law enforcement also served suspicion notices on two officials in Cherkasy region who allegedly sold fake disability certificates to men for traveling abroad.

On August 5, in Kyiv, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General's Office detained and served a notice of suspicion to the head of the Holosiivskyi District Territorial Centre for Recruitment and Social Support in Kyiv. He faces up to 9 years in prison.

On August 7, the head of the Poltava district recruitment center was suspected of brutally beating a subordinate at midnight near his home with two colleagues.

On August 9, media reported that the head of one of the Kyiv district Territorial Centers for Recruitment and Social Support was suspected of corruption.

On August 17, Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Decree 491/2023, which put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defence Council to dismiss all regional military commissars.