Pauk Volodymyr Vasylovych

$6000 for "unfitness" — and half a million at home

Volodymyr Pauk, Head of the Medical-Legal Commission at Berehove District Hospital in Zakarpattia Oblast, was caught "red-handed" receiving a bribe installment. According to the investigation, he took $6,000 for issuing a conclusion of limited fitness for military service. During searches of his residence, nearly $500,000 in cash was found—in dollars, euros, forints, and British pounds.

Salary of 26 thousand hryvnias — and half a million dollars of "unknown origin"

In his 2025 declaration, Pauk reported 320,000 UAH annual salary and 400,000 UAH in cash. During the search, authorities found an amount dozens of times greater. He was unable to explain the origin of the money. A dermatologist-venereologist with a typical civil servant salary — and the wealth of someone who has been trading "white tickets" for years.

While the front stands — the Medical-Legal Commission profits

The scheme is simple and cynical: for money — a conclusion of unfitness, for the conclusion — exemption from mobilization. While Ukrainian soldiers die on the front lines, the head of the medical commission turned his signature into a business. Every "purchased" unfitness is another draft dodger and another weakened unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

A system of total corruption in the Medical-Legal Commission

Pauk is not an isolated case. The State Bureau of Investigations and the Security Service of Ukraine record similar schemes in Medical-Legal Commissions across Ukraine. Medical commissions, intended to select those who genuinely cannot fight, have turned into a paid service for those who simply do not want to. Responsible medics with millions in cash are discovered weekly. Reforms have been ongoing for years.