Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Andriy Kostin, Resigns Amid Draft Evasion Scandal

Ukraine’s prosecutor general has resigned amid a draft-dodging scandal in which hundreds of officials, including prosecutors, are accused of obtaining fake disability certificates that allowed them to avoid military service.

The scandal, which emerged earlier this month, was the latest in a series of revelations about draft evasion schemes that have hindered Ukraine’s ability to fill the ranks of its army and damaged public trust as the country battles relentless and intensifying Russian assaults.

The prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, said he was stepping down to take responsibility for what he described in a statement on Tuesday evening as “the obviously immoral situation with fake disabilities of state officials.” There have been no public allegations that Mr. Kostin was involved in the scheme.

Following an uproar over the scandal, President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree on Tuesday ordering the liquidation by the end of the year of all medical commissions that review potential soldiers’ fitness for duty and issue disability certificates.

“There are hundreds of such instances of clearly unjustified disabilities” among officials, Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly address on Tuesday. “All of this needs to be dealt with thoroughly and swiftly.”

Ukraine has struggled to mobilize more troops and bolster its army, which is largely outmanned by Russian forces. That is partly a result of corruption schemes in which potential conscripts bribe enlistment officers or medical workers at recruitment centers in exchange for fake documents exempting them from serving in the military.