Ukrainian men are reportedly paying disabled women in the country to marry them, as a way of avoiding being drafted to fight on the frontlines of the war with Russia.
An investigation by Ukrainian outlet NGL Media found that fighting age men are exploiting a loophole in the country’s martial law that allows them to skip military service.
If they have a disabled dependant, they are able to apply for a deferral from military duty as well as being allowed to cross the border, at which point many are fleeing for good.
The investigation found scores of Facebook and Telegram groups in which men are posting marriage proposals, and disabled women are offering marriage to the highest bidders.
There are even people profiting from the practice by acting as intermediaries.
The investigation notes that a payment of around €3,000 is usually enough to secure a sham marriage to a disabled woman.
Yevhen Filipets, a lawyer in Ukraine, told the outlet “In my experience, out of 100 cases of servicemen who apply for discharge for family reasons, 95 cases use that topic, i.e., if their wife, their parents or their wife’s parents have a disability.”
“To get an exemption, it is enough to have such a marriage,” the lawyer added.
Filipets further noted that “it is almost impossible to prove the marriage is fake; it is possible only through a court decision. And one of the spouses has the right to go to court to recognise such a marriage as fake. Will he or she apply in these circumstances? I don’t think so. (…) Ukrainian people are very resourceful.”
As we highlighted earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law that lowers the country’s age of conscription by two years to make up for troop shortfalls.
The new legislation lowers the age of mobilization from 27 to 25 years, meaning more young men will be removed from the struggling Ukrainian economy and sent off to the meatgrinder in anticipation of another Russia summer offensive.
Videos have previously emerged which purport to show Ukrainians who tried to avoid being conscripted being thrown off a bus and beaten by SBU, Ukraine’s equivalent of the FBI.
"Ukrainians thrown out of the bus on top of each other and beaten like dogs by the SBU" SBU – Ukraine's equivalent of the FBI.People taken from their homes sent to the front to die for Biden's war in Ukraine which many gave him a standing ovation. "Churchillian speech" yuck🤡 pic.twitter.com/9q1BSQtwQG
— sulatron1ka 🕊️ (@sulatron1ka) March 9, 2024
The average age of a Ukrainian soldier is now over 40 years of age, the same as Russia, underscoring how the whole conflict has been a devastating bloodbath for both sides.
Well over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed already, forcing Ukraine to call up older personnel.
As we previously highlighted, shocking videos have emerged showing a mentally disabled people on the front lines of the war being mocked by other soldiers.
Last month, General Rajmund Andrzejczak, the ex-chief of the Polish General Staff, said that Ukraine is losing the war.
“More than 10 million people are missing. According to my estimates, losses should be in the millions, not hundreds of thousands. The country has no resources, no one to fight. Ukrainians are losing this war,” said the general.
Also this week, US State Department consultant Edward Luttwak says that NATO countries will have to send soldiers to Ukraine or “accept catastrophic defeat,” and that Britain and France are already making preparations to do so.