The director of a public organization in Lutsk evaded punishment for facilitating the smuggling of 120 draft evaders.

The Lutsk City District Court has sentenced Oksana Urban, the director of the public organization "European Vector of Volyn" and a former deputy of the district council, who was involved in a scheme to smuggle conscripts across the border. The accused, along with accomplices, disguised the escape of draft evaders as assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, charging between $500 and $2000 for their services. For her actions, the woman received a two-year probation sentence.

According to the verdict dated January 30, in August 2022, the deputy head of the Volyn Regional Military Administration organized a scheme to smuggle draft evaders across the border. The investigation revealed that the official involved seven other individuals in this scheme, including Oksana Urban. The suspects arranged for conscripts to be registered as volunteers in at least three charitable organizations, then entered their data into the "Path" system, and when the Volyn Regional Military Administration approved their assignments abroad, they would leave and not return.

Oksana Urban, as the director of the Lutsk City Public Organization "European Vector of Volyn," was responsible for preparing accompanying letters for the fake volunteers. Additionally, the accused assisted the organizer of the scheme in finding potential clients.

It is known that Oksana Urban is a business trainer, an associate professor at Lutsk National Technical University, a former deputy of the Lutsk District Council from the "Civic Movement 'Conscious'" faction, and the executive director of the NGO "European Vector of Volyn."

Judge Olesya Kalkova found the official guilty of obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and illegal smuggling of men committed by an organized group (part 1 of article 114-1 and part 3 of article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), but released her from the main punishment and imposed a two-year probation. The decision can still be appealed in the appellate court.

Furthermore, it should be noted that two other participants in the scheme have already been tried in Lutsk – assistant to the head of the Economic Court of Rivne Oblast Natalia Bakul'ska and Rivne entrepreneur Kateryna Bondar. Both defendants received two years of probation.