Ukrainian investigators launched a coordinated sweep of the country's draft offices in a single morning, the State Bureau of Investigation announced. The operation goes after two things at once: money paid to escape mobilization, and the mistreatment of the men those offices process. Ukraine's military command has publicly backed the raids.

More than 100 draft offices, searched in one morning

On the morning of 30 July, the State Bureau of Investigation began searches at more than 100 "territorial recruitment and social support centers" — the draft offices Ukrainians call TCKs — across most regions, the bureau set out. It runs the operation, codenamed "Honest Draft," together with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"For many at the TCKs, a 'Clean Thursday' has truly come today," the Bureau wrote, invoking the pre-Easter day of ritual cleaning.

The Bureau named two targets. First, schemes that let men liable for service buy their way out of mobilization. Second, draft-office staff exceeding their powers, including the beating and torture of those liable for service. Officials stressed that the operation is systematic cleanup work across the whole system, and not a reaction to one high-profile case. Detentions and notices of suspicion are expected across various regions.

The army says it is backing the raids

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said it is giving full assistance to law enforcement in investigations aimed at exposing corruption and abuses, including at the recruitment centers. If wrongdoing is confirmed, those responsible must answer under Ukrainian law, it added.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine maintain a policy of zero tolerance for corruption and ensure a comprehensive, objective and impartial investigation of every report of a possible offense," the General Staff wrote. 

At the same time, it cautioned that isolated cases should not devalue the service of recruitment-center staff who do their jobs properly and keep mobilization running.

The sweep arrives as Ukraine reorders its whole defense apparatus. The army's new leadership is running a force-wide manning audit to find soldiers kept away from the fight. That drive followed the ousted defense minister's public fight over arms procurement and the audit that exposed billions in overspending. 

Someone impersonated Ukraine's newly appointed top general on X, posting false statements in his name until the platform removed the account, according to Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation. The fake carried a verified badge—which on X currently signals a paid X subscription, not identity verification—and pushed fabricated announcements before officials exposed it. The watchdog says a wider effort to discredit the country's military leadership now reaches other senior commanders.

A fake page speaks for the new commander

The Center for Countering Disinformation (CPD), a body under Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, reported on 28 July that X had blocked a page impersonating the official account of the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief, Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi. The account had earlier spread fakes in his name. The watchdog thanked X for acting on the complaint.

The counterfeit profile, created in July 2026, carried a verified badge and gathered more than 5,500 followers before its exposure. It had published around 30 posts issuing statements in the commander's voice.

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A fabricated "army audit" that reached the media

On 26 July, the fake page posted that an "audit of the Armed Forces" was starting, claiming there would be "no untouchables" and that anyone tied to alleged violations would answer for it. Ukrainska Pravda—a popular Ukrainian publication—ran a story sourced to the account, then annulled the report and apologized to readers.

The General Staff confirmed the X page did not belong to Drapatyi.

The CPD said the operation reaches beyond one general. Posts also try to discredit acting Defense Minister Major General Yevhenii Khmara, Ground Forces Commander Major General Hennadii Shapovalov, and other senior figures in the Defense Forces. The aim, the watchdog said, is to sow division and distrust among the public and troops by spreading fake biographies and building artificially inflated expectations through counterfeit pages.