Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support

The Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support (TCC and SP or TCC) (Ukrainian: ТЦК та СП or ТЦК)^[1] is Ukraine's military administration body that keeps military records and mobilizes the population. Starting from 2022, the TCC and SP have completely replaced Ukraine's former system of military commissariats.^[2][3][4]

According to Ukrainian resolution "On the approval of the Regulation on territorial centers of recruitment and social support", local TCCs are formed, liquidated, reorganized by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The direct management of the TCC and control over their activities is carried out by the relevant operational commands, and the general command of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, which coordinates the main issues of the TCC's activities with their relevant structural subdivisions of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense. Territorial centers of recruitment and social support of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Kyiv, Sevastopol, and Ukrainian oblasts are legal entities under public law, with each having independent balance sheets registration accounts in the Treasury authorities.^[5]

In order to ensure the fulfillment of the tasks and specified functions of each TCC, structural subdivisions (departments, branches, groups, services) are formed within them. Each TCC conducts activities in accordance to the provisions with each structural division, which is approved the head of the district territorial center of recruitment and social support. Regulations on district territorial centers of staffing and social support are approved by the heads of their respective TCC.^[5]

The TCC is tasked with managing the conscription and military service of citizens, engaging in mobilization training of employees for mobilization civilians, managing military records of conscripts and reservists on the territory of the relevant administrative-territorial unit, the selection of candidates for contract military service, with participation in the selection of citizens for military reserve service, the preparation and mobilization of human and transport resources, ensuring the organization of social and legal protection of conscripts to the Armed Forces, managing veterans of military service and pensioners from among military personnel and members of their families, and participation in military and patriotic education. The personnel of the TCC, as well as the transport and material and technical means of the said TCC are maintained under the budget of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.^[5]

The number of TCCs as of 2023 reached over 200, and were distributed among four operational commands: "North", "South", "West", and "East".^[6] However, some of them have separate territorial subdivisions— so-called "departments"— together with which the territorial total number of such formations approaches or exceeds 300.^[7][8]

On July 19, 2017, the Government of Ukraine issued an order to approve a pilot project proposed by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on the formation of the TCC from August 1 to December 31, 2017, on the basis of the Chernihiv Regional Military Commissariat (now the Chernihiv Regional TCC and SP).^[9][10] On August 2, 2017, it was announced that starting from August 1, 2017, this pilot project was implemented not only in Chernihiv, but also in Kozelka of the Chernihiv region. The Kozelka District Military Commissariat (now the Second Branch of the Chernihiv RTCC and SP) also joined.^[11] On November 1, 2017, at a briefing attended by experts from the Department of Defense Cooperation of the US Embassy in Ukraine, an Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) representative publicized information about the results of reforming military commissariats in the TCC in these two military commissariats of the Chernihiv region.^[12][13][14]

On January 12, 2018, plans were announced to implement the program in Volyn by March 2018.^[15][16][17] On March 22, 2018, plans to expand the project to four more regions were announced.^[18] On April 25, 2018, information about the minister of defense of Ukraine's approval of a plan to create a TCC on the basis of military commissariats without any territorial restrictions, thus on the entire territory of Ukraine, was revealed.^[19][20] As of September 17, 2018, this plan provided for the reform of 111 military commissariats in the TCC in Chernihiv, Rivne, Dnipropetrovsk, and Odesa regions by the end of 2018, after which they would be implemented in all other regions of Ukraine.^[21]

On May 28, 2020, a draft law was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine regarding, in particular, the renaming of the Military Committees of Ukraine to the TCC, but the process of its consideration was significantly delayed.^[22] On November 1, 2020, the Ministry of Defense unilaterally renamed all military commissariats of Ukraine into territorial centers, thus creating a precedent for their further functioning outside the legal field of Ukraine. They also permanently removed the term "military commissariat" from the names of structures subordinate to it throughout the territory of Ukraine.^[23] On March 30, 2021, on the basis of the above-mentioned draft law, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a corresponding law that signed by the president of Ukraine in April 2021, which was subsequently entered into legal force. Despite this, apart from cosmetic changes in the name, he did not change anything at all in the functioning of the former military commissariats, which negatively affected the image of the entire reform. Criticisms were levied against how the move left such factors as the paper record of conscripted citizens and conscripts in addition to maintaining a unified state register of conscripts, that until now for the newly named territorial centers of support and social protection was considered an additional option in functioning, and not vice versa.^[23][24][22]

On February 23, 2022, the TCC completely replaced the former system of military commissariats and abandoned paper records of persons in favor of electronic records based on the "unified state register of conscripts, conscripts and reservists" already present at the legislative level.^[5]

On August 17, 2023, President of Ukraine Volodomyr Zelenskyy approved the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to dismiss all heads of regional TCCs in the country in connection with corruption that had taken place numerous times before.^[25][26]

Territorial recruitment and social support centers have come under considerable criticism from the Ukrainian public and human rights activists for illegal detentions, corruption, and errors in documentation.^{[26][27][28][29]}

Criticism came from the secretary of the Defense Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Roman Kostenko, who noted multiple cases where defense enterprise employees and people with vision problems were forcefully mobilized. He emphasized that healthy and motivated people should be drafted into the army, and not those who managed to be "caught" by recruitment officers.^[28]

Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets condemned the actions of TCC employees who detained citizens or demanded documents from them in the middle of the street. He emphasized that the employees of military commissions do not have the right to such actions against civilians.^[29]

Criticism towards the TCC and its officers are also often related to cases of wrongdoing and errors in documentation. Lawyer Roman Kichka noted that for many years, the military commissariats had incorrectly drawn up documents and incorrectly referred to the requirements of the law, which led to illegal fines against citizens who had updated their data in the Reserve+ application and appeared at regional centers to clarify data.^[27][30]

Ukrainian social media and information spaces shared several reports of conflicts between TCC employees and citizens. For example, in Baranivka, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukrainian civilians protested against the TCC due to their involvement in the death of Serhii Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being forcefully detained to the TCC, and later died. The TCC claimed that the man had abused alcohol, which caused him to suffer from an epileptic seizure.^[31]

On June 11 in Odesa, TCC employees detained a citizen who refused to provide registration documents and took him to the TCC, from where he called an ambulance. A conflict arose between ambulance workers and the TCC, which is currently being investigated under the article regarding "hooliganism" in the Criminal Code of Ukraine.^[31]

News outlets reported on Nina Tronenko's statements that her 22-year-old son was detained at the train station in Uzhhorod and forced to sign documents for referral to military training, despite the fact that he was declared unfit for military service in 2019 during peacetime. The Transcarpathian TCC confirmed that the boy passed the military medical board, and was sent to the military for training.^[32]

• Ukrainian conscription crisis
• Mobilization in Ukraine

• Website: Знайди своє ТРО

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine documents:

• Regulations on territorial recruitment and social support centers
• Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated February 23, 2022 No. 154 "On approval of the Regulations on territorial recruitment and social support centers"
• Law of Ukraine No. 1357-IX dated 30.03.2021 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of Certain Issues of Performing Military Duty and Keeping Military Accounts"— Chapter II: Final and transitional provisions— Entered into force on 04/23/2021.
• Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated August 22, 2007 No. 1054 "On approval of the Regulation on the territorial center for staffing military personnel under contract" — Document 1054-2007-p. Expired on February 26, 2022.