Abuses with the “Shlyakh” system intended for truck drivers, which the government allowed volunteers to use at the beginning of the great war, have become so widespread that something needs to be done about it.
Investigative journalists from NGL.media spent several months researching the use of the Shlyakh system and found hundreds of public organizations and charitable foundations involved in the flight of military-aged men from the country. The publication's journalists found out the names of 2,248 men who left with permission from the Lviv Regional Police Department and did not return.
According to various estimates, such a “service” costs $3,000-5,000 per person on the black market, so we are actually talking about tens of millions of dollars.
The publication's journalists deliberately refused to publish the names of draft dodgers, but decided to focus on researching public and charitable organizations that consciously or unconsciously contributed to them by submitting appropriate petitions to LOVA.
In total, NGL.media identified 372 such organizations and talks about the leaders of this anti-rating, from which hundreds of draft dodgers left.
How did they do it?
Unexpectedly, the research record holders were two organizations that operate at the same address in the city of Nikolaev, Lviv region - the local branch of the all-Ukrainian society “Prosvita” and the NGO “Theater Bread”.
These two organizations are among the five that received the most permits through the Shlyakh system. Almost 200 men were able to escape from these two organizations alone.
Letters to LOVA on behalf of the Nikolaev branch of “Prosvita” were written by the chairman of the organization, 34-year-old Natalya Mukha, who also runs the Nikolaev folk theater “Khleb”. And from the NGO “Theater Khleb” its director, 22-year-old Roman Zbudovsky, a member of the theater “Khleb”, wrote, NGL.media found out thanks to requests.
Both Natalya Mukha and Roman Zbudovsky consistently ignored calls and messages in instant messengers with requests to comment on the figures identified by NGL.media.
We understand that some of the fugitives could have done this without permission, without the knowledge of the organization’s leadership. But the persistent avoidance of explanations suggests that such leaders have something to hide.
Old acquaintances
The list of organizations from which most men fled from Ukraine included many already familiar organizations. We are talking, in particular, about the “Commission for Combating Corruption in Sambir” and “Revival of Our Ukraine”, from which, according to the publication’s calculations, more than 100 men left and did not return.
Earlier, the head of the “Commission for Combating Corruption in the City of Sambir,” Nikolai Starodub, said that he “was asked to put a stamp, and he did so, because he thought that a “volunteer” should be brought.” And the head of the Revival of Our Ukraine, Anatoly Donets, allowed his organization to be used in exchange for being taken abroad.”
After NGL.media published the article “The False Path,” the activities of both organizations began to be studied in a criminal investigation, but we do not know at what stage it is. Now the court is considering indictments based on the results of the investigation against three people: Lyubomir Protsyuk and Mikhail Vasylyk, as well as Andrei Shpak, who is accused not only of illegally transporting people abroad, but also under Art. 358 of the Criminal Code (forgery of documents). Due to Shpak’s mobilization, his case was recently separated into separate proceedings and the judicial proceedings were stopped - that is, the case will not be considered until his demobilization.
During new research, journalists discovered another organization that is likely connected to this story. Thanks to information from LOVA, it is known that in applications from a certain “Stepan Bandera Charitable Foundation”, from which almost 40 men left and did not return, the phone number of Anatoly Donets was indicated. But he claims that this is the first time he has heard about such an organization and has not sent any requests from it. The head of the Stepan Bandera Charitable Foundation, Igor Fesan, previously claimed that he also did not send any appeals to LOVA, but now he refused to communicate.
Another group of related volunteer organizations described in the article “One-Way Tickets” was included in the rating: “Clean Kyiv”, “Bayraktar.”, “Our Good Deeds”, “Ukrainian Guild of Activists”, “Concerned Citizens”, “Ukrainian Javelin” ", "Public environmental initiative", "Ukrainian cats". According to our calculations, more than 200 men of military age left this group and did not return.
“Not our signatures, not our seal”
The selection also included a number of previously unknown organizations. Like, for example, the “Legion of Sichovy Streltsy” and “Ray of Our Hope” foundations. The telephone numbers of these organizations are either switched off or invalid, and there is no information about their activities. Officially, these funds are registered in Lviv, but their founders are registered on the same street in Truskavets.
No one responded to emails to the “Ray of Our Hope” mailbox, but the “Legion of Sich Riflemen” responded - but after the mention of “The Way” they no longer contacted us. In total, almost 150 people did not return from these organizations.
NGL.media journalists were unable to contact the leadership of the foundations “Assistance and Help” (43 “defectors”), “Armed Volunteers of Ukraine” (32), “Code-Palyanytsya” and “Cossack Hardening” (29 fugitives each).
But we managed to talk with the “Ridna Nenka” foundation (23 people). Its former leader Pavel Tuzyak stated that they did not submit such names at all on the lists for inclusion in the Shlyakh system.
Through a request to LOVA, journalists received copies of the “Native Mother” appeals - on some of the documents the name of Pavel Tuzyak is indicated. When these appeals were shown to him, he stated that “these are not our signatures and not our seals.” However, Tuzyak did not want to share a photo of the real seal and signatures, claiming that he would do this “unless by a court order.” Therefore, the fact of forgery must be confirmed or denied by law enforcement agencies.
There are also quite well-known organizations on the list - for example, the “Movement to the Future” Relief Fund, associated with the famous Lviv businessman Grigory Kozlovsky. We found out the names of 23 men who left this organization and did not return - and shared this list with Oleg Shpur, a signatory of the fund.
“We did not submit them through our foundation. We have analyzed all the requests. “They [identified] only 7 people who are on the list,” he claims, but sent the names of only six people. Oleg Shpur also added that one of the men on the list left with a British passport, and the rest returned.
The publication's journalists checked these six people. Indeed, one of them left with a foreign passport, and another one accompanied a child with a disability. Another person returned after the conversation, in July. However, the return of three more people could not be confirmed. One of them hung up as soon as he heard the essence of the question. The phone numbers of the others could not be found, so the journalists asked Oleg Shpur to share his contacts, but never received them.
NGL.media received copies of complaints about all 23 men and sent them to Oleg Shpur, he promised to check them. At the time of publication, we had not received a response. But if the appeal from “Movement to the Future” was indeed falsified, then the organization should contact the police.
For example, Ulyana Flishko, head of the Make Your Dream Foundation, has already written a statement to the police. Journalists found 39 men who left because of a petition from this organization. The head of the foundation claims that she sent letters to LOVA to only ten of them, but for a long time several people had access to the organization’s press.
The head of the organization “Our Light” Olesya Shakalo-Olshanetskaya was surprised by the list of 32 men who fled on behalf of her organization. According to her, they were approached by many outside volunteers, not from their organization, who were also included in “Shlyakh”. “We had to transport cargo, and therefore we worked, trusting each other, like many other organizations,” she said and advised us to contact a certain Ruslan Kovalenko, who recommended these people. But he never commented on the list sent to him.
The head of the World of Love Foundation, Irina Ermolenko, also did not help in the investigation. During the first conversation, she said that she knew that only three people had not returned, two of whom were being treated abroad, so the information about 40 people surprised her. After journalists sent her a list of men, she did not get in touch. Just like the head of the Sports of the Nation Foundation, Alexander Pavelets, who, after receiving the list, stopped answering calls and messages.
Unified rules of the game
After regular scandals due to the abuse of the “Shlyakh” system for the departure of draft dodgers, the government decided to introduce changes to the legislation, developed taking into account the opinions of regional military administrations. Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Sergei Derkach says that the Lviv Regional Public Administration was an active participant in the process and introduced additional requirements for applicants even earlier.
“We, as a ministry, just [like LOVA] have introduced mandatory electronic signatures. I really want there to be uniform rules for all administrations, because today, if one regional administration simply introduces some strict rules, then some unscrupulous volunteers will simply go to another administration, which does not have such rules,” says Sergei Derkach, “We took into account all the comments and concerns [from the OVA], and everyone was very positive about strengthening control. We talked about electronic digital signatures, specific deadlines for consideration of applications, not only about the justification for departure, but also the presentation of relevant documents from recipients of this assistance. Also, a connection to the customs declaration database so that we have information about imported goods. We have had cases where, unfortunately, people left in cars and came back on foot, probably carrying humanitarian aid in their pockets.”
In addition, the draft document from the Ministry of Infrastructure provides that organizations with experience that have already been working for at least several months will be able to add their drivers to the system. There will also be specific deadlines for consideration of their applications in order to reduce corruption risks, as well as criteria for refusal.
“We are considering the possibility of banning organizations [from entering the Shlyakh system] for some period of time. If a charitable foundation violates what we prescribed, then, for example, it will not be able to travel abroad for six months, and this will be a conditional ban, which, it seems to us, will also give its results,” explains Sergei Derkach.
Now the military administrations and the Ministry of Infrastructure do not have access to the border guards’ base and, accordingly, do not know about those who left and did not return. The only public information on this issue is the information of the temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada, which indicates that as of the end of April, almost 19 thousand men of military age left through “Shlyakh” and did not return.
There is no official “black list” of unscrupulous funds and public organizations. The only thing known is that the ministry blocked access for 10 carriers.
“Licensees add their drivers to the Shlyakh system themselves. The Ministry of Infrastructure has nothing to do with them. These 10 that I talked about are just licensees. That is, I am a carrier, I have my own account in the Shlyakh system, I do not need to contact either the Ministry of Infrastructure or the regional administration,” says Sergei Derkach. — Regarding “blacklists” in the regions, I have not heard such information, I have not seen such information anywhere in the media, but, frankly speaking, there are no legal grounds [for this]. How many people who did not return, for example, are enough to put an organization on a blacklist? Or did people not return, or did people simply violate their stay?”
In addition, carriers, funds or public organizations do not always know about the real plans of their drivers. As the Deputy Minister explains, there were cases when drivers of transport companies did not return without the knowledge of management. The driver simply abandons the truck somewhere, calls and says: “I left the truck, but I won’t return to Ukraine.”
Now for men who used the “Shlyakh” system to escape from the country, there is neither administrative nor criminal liability. Earlier, Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said that men who left Ukraine during martial law should be punished upon their return. But this caused a debate in society. According to Sergei Derkach, it is important to distinguish between violation of return deadlines and non-return at all.
“By establishing responsibility, we will not reduce the number of those citizens who will still return to Ukraine, but our task is to return Ukrainian citizens home. It is not our competence to decide the issue of establishing liability. For our part, we are trying to make it impossible for fraudulent actions to travel abroad and prevent this,” he says.
