The Ministry of Defense is preparing a reform of the Territorial Defense Forces: Reserve Offices will be established
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is considering changes to the recruitment system and the transformation of territorial recruitment centers. Instead of the current centers, the ministry plans to establish “Reserve Offices” with separate units to assess the fitness of and provide support to those subject to military service.
This was reported by “Ukrainska Pravda” on May 11.
Staff at the recruitment offices will be responsible for maintaining records of conscripts, planning mobilization measures, recruiting, and processing enlistments. Additionally, recruitment stations will be set up in public places.
Furthermore, recruitment hubs—special facilities where volunteers and conscripts brought in by the police will be temporarily housed during the enlistment process—will be established in separate locations. Hub staff will verify documents, organize medical examinations by military medical commissions, and assess individuals’ psychological condition and professional suitability.
Support office staff will be responsible for social issues. Currently, regional recruitment centers handle not only mobilization but also processing compensation for wounded soldiers, payments to families of the deceased, and organizing funerals. Due to the heavy workload, these processes often experience delays.
The Ministry of Defense plans to transfer social functions to the support offices. They intend to digitize some services, including the processing of payments and the issuance of certificates.
“There was a long debate over who should transport men from the streets to the TCC. The Ministry of Defense proposed that only police officers handle this, without military involvement. But the police are against it. Now everything has stalled—there is no consensus,” a source in the military leadership told the publication.
National Police Chief Ivan Vyhovsky previously stated that involving police in mobilization negatively affects the reputation of law enforcement agencies. At the same time, the law already allows the police to detain and transport conscripts to the TCC.
According to those involved in drafting the reform, the main goal of the changes is to make mobilization less chaotic and more understandable to the public. The government also hopes that the introduction of clear rules of service, new contracts, and a reformed recruitment system will help reduce public tension surrounding mobilization.
Read also: On May 6 in Dnipro, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine are conducting searches at one of the territorial recruitment and social support centers.
In Odesa, a TCC vehicle was attacked while transporting conscripts.
The head of the Zhytomyr Territorial Recruitment Center submitted a corrected income declaration.
