Lviv Doctor and Former Military Officer Suspected in Fake Medical Discharge Scheme
In Lviv, police officers, together with special defense prosecutors and military counterintelligence, have uncovered a scheme to discharge servicemen from service based on fictitious medical diagnoses. According to investigators, the former deputy commander of one of the Lviv military units, Valeriy Fesyuk, and a doctor at a military hospital, Tetyana Voytovych, were charging $5,000-7,000 for their services.
As reported on Wednesday, October 28, in the Special Prosecutor's Office for Defense of the Western Region and the Internal Security Department of the National Police, a 65-year-old resident of Lviv and a 54-year-old neurologist from a military medical clinical center agreed in June 2026 to receive an illegal benefit from a senior sergeant of one of the military units of the Lviv region.
The scheme worked like this: a former deputy commander of a military unit, while retired, searched among his military acquaintances for military personnel who wanted to be discharged from service due to health reasons and offered them help. The accomplices asked for between $5,000 and $7,000 for creating a plausible medical history, undergoing rehabilitation at a boarding house, and receiving treatment at a hospital without actually staying in a medical facility.
In one case, the attacker offered an active-duty military man $1,500 to first arrange an eight-day hospital stay without physically staying there. He then had to put him in touch with a neurologist for $100, who would be able to influence his colleagues – other doctors – and issue fictitious documents to declare the man as limitedly fit. The client would have to pay an additional $5,000 to $7,000 to create a plausible medical history. As the attacker explained, no one would take a risk for $100.
The process of preparing the documents took several months. At the same time, the soldier was referred for additional examination to other doctors for plausibility. Sometimes the doctor herself entered fictitious diagnoses into the man’s card - for registration in a day hospital or referral to a military medical commission.
Moreover, the range of services even included rehabilitation after a fictitious illness in one of the Truskavets sanatoriums.
All actions were carefully coordinated and controlled by the accomplices. Payment was taken in stages, supposedly to be transferred to other doctors to make the necessary decision or obtain the necessary appointment.
It is documented that on August 19, the serviceman gave the former deputy commander of the unit $1,900, and on September 5, another $400. After completing the treatment, the doctor recommended sending the serviceman to the VLK.
On October 6, 2026, a Lviv resident met with a military man in a car near the military medical clinical center in Lviv and received another $2,000. These funds were intended for the production of fictitious medical documents about the presence of a mental illness, which were later to become grounds for exclusion from military registration. After transferring the money, law enforcement officers detained the intermediary.
During searches on the same day, mobile phones, medical records, forged seals of medical institutions, draft notes, cash: 100 thousand UAH, 30 thousand dollars, 500 euros and 120 Swiss francs were seized. A pistol and ammunition were also seized.
The accomplices were charged with abuse of influence (Part 2 of Article 28 - Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Law enforcement officers are not disclosing their names. According to ZAXID.NET, suspicions were placed on Tetyana Voytovych, a doctor at the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Western Region, and her accomplice Valeriy Fesyuk. The court chose preventive measures for them in the form of detention with the right to post bail.
We also reported that in the Ternopil region, an official of Ukrtransbezpeka is suspected of bribery.
