Under the coordination of the Prosecutor General's Office, together with the units of the National Police, the SBI, and the internal security of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the third stage of the special operation "Guardian" was carried out, exposing and notifying 27 men on suspicion of using forged medical documents to be released from service or postpone mobilization.

According to the investigation, the participants of the scheme submitted certificates to military units about allegedly serious illnesses or disabilities of relatives who require constant care, or about their own unfitness for service.

In a number of cases, the medical documentation was completely fictitious, and there were no records of visits to doctors. Facts of intentional self-mutilation have also been established.

During more than 60 searches in Kyiv city, as well as in Kyiv, Rivne, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhia, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Poltava regions, forged certificates, medical documentation, and other evidence of the use of false documents to avoid military service were seized.

Additionally, the necessary information was provided to the Territorial Centers for Recruitment and Social Support to verify the legitimacy of the granted deferrals.

The pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings under Part 4 of Art. 409, Art. 336, Art. 358, and Part 3 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is ongoing. The suspects face up to 10 years of imprisonment.

It is also worth noting that during the previous stages of the operation "Guardian," law enforcement officers uncovered about 100 more instances of document forgery to avoid military service.