Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have detained Nikita Shatilin, a member of the Irpin City Council and head of the Irpin City Council’s Department for Veterans Policy. Ukrainian media outlets reported the detention, citing law enforcement sources. There has been no official confirmation of the information as of publication, but Reform.news sources have confirmed the detention.
Nikita Shatilin is the son of Sviatlana Shatilina, a representative of the Belarusian democratic forces in Ukraine.
The Irpin Online outlet linked the detention to an operation carried out on May 26 by the SBU and National Police to disrupt five schemes for evading military mobilisation in different regions of the country. Ten alleged organisers of illegal schemes were detained during the operation.
According to the SBU statement, authorities detained a paediatric surgeon and his physician brother in Kyiv Region, “who organised an illegal scheme involving fictitious inpatient treatment and the issuance of forged disability certificates granting Group II disability status to draft evaders.”
“The suspects involved the head of a medical institution in Mykolaiv Region, the head of a neurology department at a local medical institution, as well as an acquaintance who acted as an intermediary,” the SBU said.
None of the individuals described in the SBU statement matches Nikita Shatilin.
According to publicly available information, Shatilin is a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war. He has participated in combat operations since 2014, took part in the defence of Irpin, Borodianka and Makariv in 2022, and was awarded the Order for Courage, Third Class.
