Former head of the Vinnytsia region SES Shevchuk is suspected of human trafficking

Former head of the Vinnytsia region SES Shevchuk is suspected of human trafficking

The former head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Vinnytsia region, Ruslan Shevchuk, has been notified of suspicion of human trafficking.

According to the investigation, the suspect, from 2024 to 2025, abused his official position as the head of the SES department by giving illegal orders to the heads of fire and rescue units to release five individual subordinates from their official duties.

They were sent to perform construction work on properties belonging to him and his family members in the Vinnytsia and Kharkiv regions. People were forced to work both during and outside of working hours.

Shevchuk has been charged under Part 2 of Article 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (human trafficking committed against multiple persons by an official using his official position). The court has taken the briber into custody with the possibility of posting bail amounting to almost 2.5 million UAH.

During searches at his residence and former workplace, documents of ownership, medical certificates of disability, 10,000 euros, a mobile phone, a video surveillance server, and digital information carriers were seized.

Shevchuk headed the department for 15 consecutive years! He was preparing to leave the service and, as a deputy of the Vinnytsia Regional Council since 2010, found himself a new position. He was entrusted with leading the communal institution "Vinnytsia Regional Training and Methodological Center for Preparing Citizens for National Resistance," established last November.

Then, considering the proposal of the regional military administration, the regional council deputies decided to create the center.

Ruslan Shevchuk was born on July 11, 1969, in the city of Radekhiv, Lviv region. He graduated from the Omsk Higher All-Arms Command School, the Armed Forces Academy, and the Kharkiv Regional Institute of Public Administration. He held managerial positions in the State Emergency Service since 2005. He was a combatant in 2009.