The TCCs are Ukraine’s military recruitment offices and are increasingly making headlines. In Anglo-Saxon media, some information can be found, as Ukraine’s forced mobilization shocks the world. But not in the French media… It must be said that Kiev’s thugs don’t hold back: beatings, street raids, various forms of violence, both against those rounded up and those who protest or try to oppose, there are already several hundred dead, victims of Zelensky’s regime enforcers. The phenomenon is growing, as the TCCs must forcibly mobilize more and more men. On the front, Ukraine needs cannon fodder, losses are terrible, and volunteering has dried up. So with extreme violence, the TCCs are conducting a manhunt across the whole of Ukraine. This is a unique fact in military history, there is no similar example in the past. Let’s try to lift the veil a little on a phenomenon and an organization that we ultimately know very little about.
TCC: Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers of the regions. These centers were born at the time of Ukraine’s independence and the constitution of its army. Until the early 2000s, this armed force was over 500,000 strong, inherited from the Soviet army along with other armies of the USSR. Ukraine benefited from a share of matériel, stocks, equipment, not to mention a sometimes advanced military-industrial complex, in armor, firearms, ammunition, aeronautics, etc. Military conscription was maintained, as practiced in the vast majority of countries in the world at the time. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine, unlike Russia, never managed to stabilize politically. It was struck by the same ills: mafia, corruption, vampiric oligarchs, systematic plundering of the country, but found no charismatic leader, no determined policies to end the phenomenon. In the early 2000s, half the army was liquidated, soldiers were fired or retired. The equipment became the subject of shameless trafficking, the country becoming one of the primary sources of arms trafficking in the world. Conscripts continued to be called up, while the TCCs were called “military commissariats” at the time. In a vast reform project of these commissariats, they were finally renamed TCCs (November 1, 2020), the project being ratified by the Ukrainian Rada (March 30, 2021).
A reform motivated by the United States. After the US-sponsored Maidan revolution, Ukraine signed several partnerships with various Western countries to train and reform its army (February 2015). Operation UNIFIER was signed with Canada and minor partners, France and Sweden; two others were signed with the United Kingdom and the United States. From 2015 to 2021, the 5 countries trained approximately 78,000 Ukrainian soldiers. New units were created based on NATO models, such as the 36th Marine Infantry Brigade (2017), which was trained by British instructors. In many cases, instructors from these countries came to Ukraine, but officers were also sent to these countries. To integrate them, at least de facto into NATO, English lessons were provided to Ukrainian officers. The main NATO standards were assimilated by Ukrainian forces, in HQs, special forces, infantry and combat doctrines, use of new equipment, especially anti-tank, etc.
The US also helped reform the National Police at the same time, with aid to renew equipment, change uniforms, methods, and administration. A National Guard of Ukraine was founded on the American model (2014), then a Territorial Defense of Ukraine was completely reorganized, following the example of Estonia, with the help of Poland, Germany, the UK, and the USA (2018). It was the latter two countries that helped create the NABU (Anti-Corruption Bureau), and the US sent specialists to set up the TCCs (2021). For unknown reasons, but likely due to lack of time and the Russian special military operation (February 2022), the conscript registers did not undergo a deep, computerized reform, nor an information update, while some of this data was still processed on paper. Despite the law, political will, and American pressure, the reform only began its path after the SMO. It is also possible that funds allocated by the Americans and other countries disappeared in the meantime into the pockets of officials… In 2021, the West was already warning about Russia’s future intervention in Ukraine. The Americans, however, were powerless here to shake Ukrainian inertia. The reform had only taken place on paper; only the institution’s name had changed. Then came the launch of the Russian special military operation (February 24, 2022).
The TCCs and the Beginning of the Russian Special Military Operation. In February 2022, Ukraine was able to benefit from three positive factors: 1) The Territorial Defense of Ukraine was ready, the reform had been implemented. Ukrainians were able to immediately raise troops of motivated reservists who already had training. 2) The National Guard was also ready, it was mobilized without issue. 3) Very many volunteers came forward to join the armed forces in a patriotic surge, not to mention fanatical Banderites. During this period, between 2022 and 2023, the TCCs were therefore transparent, volunteers were numerous, they presented themselves, as did mobilized men and conscripts. Ukraine even embarked on creating a great many units, going from 240,000 men to about 600,000 at the beginning of 2024. As in many wars, men left with the idea that it would all be quick; there was even a moment when Ukrainian and Western propaganda spoke of crushing Donbass, Crimea, and invading Russia (autumn 2022). With the Russian strategic withdrawal in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, the Ukrainian army regained a lot of ground. In Western media, “the Russian army was done for.” But in the winter of 2022-2023, it soon became clear the war would last, while a Ukrainian counteroffensive that was supposed to sweep everything before it was announced for spring 2023. It was a disaster, as the Ukrainians began to retreat. At this date, we heard about the TCCs for the first time.
Zelensky’s Clean Sweep. With martial law, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine demanded that all TCC heads be fired. Zelensky immediately approved the measure (August 17, 2023). The reason was that the centers and officials were corrupt, that many mobilized men were evading armed service by various means: corruption of military doctors, medical commissions, fake disability documents, imaginary illnesses, exemptions as “strategic personnel,” etc. The raids then began in Ukraine as we know them. At the end of the year, the Ukrainian press revealed that over 900,000 men were draft dodgers, or considered as such. The reform decided in 2020-2021 not having been realized, many men in Ukraine were not up to date in their military record books, especially their addresses. In fact, Ukraine was faced with a mass of men whose number and addresses were not really known, while there was no unified file of available men. To try to remedy this, artifices were used, notably social aid lures, to motivate people to report themselves, to declare household members. But these measures were not capable of dealing with the urgency: it was now necessary to count on a very long war, with significant attrition and numerous military losses. Kiev was obliged to find men, a lot of men. The same year, the TCCs were increased to over 200 offices, divided into 4 operational commands: North, South, West, and East, themselves having branches in the regions, for more than 500 offices.
The Hunt for Cannon Fodder. At the beginning of 2025, the Ukrainian army reached its maximum strength, about 600,000 men, while a new series of units had been created (winter 2024-2025). By this date, volunteering had virtually disappeared, becoming marginal; prisons had been emptied (by another early decree of Zelensky, as early as spring 2022). The contribution of mercenaries, notably within the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, was not sufficient to face future challenges; in 4 years about 20-22,000 men came to enlist in Ukraine. The front demanding more and more cannon fodder, pressure on the Ukrainian populations grew stronger and stronger (2024-2026). Some figures appeared, notably on the supposed strength of the TCCs: thousands of men, with figures varying between 30 and 120,000 personnel. But very quickly, it became clear that the National Police was partially diverted from its tasks to participate in the raids, as many videos have demonstrated since. In 2025, the figure of 2.5 to 3 million mobilizable men in Ukraine was put forward. An Anglo-Saxon source claimed the TCCs had quotas of 30,000 men to round up per month, but with a success rate of about 10,000 victims per month. Pressure worsened further with major defeats on the front, particularly the disastrous Kursk Pocket operation (August 2024-March 2025), useless offensives on the Belgorod line, at Demidovka or Tyotkino (spring-summer 2025), and constant retreats on the Donbass front or the Zaporizhzhia line. The exponential multiplication of videos showing TCC raids quickly proved that Ukraine had to mobilize at all costs to hold the front at the price of blood. The videos were very often from historically Russian-speaking regions, with cities like Odesa, Kharkiv, Kiev, or Dnipro, but very quickly other videos appeared from the west of the country.
Why is Ukraine conducting these raids and why won’t they stop? The answer is obvious. After 12 years of war and 4 years since the launch of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, there are no more volunteers in the country. Kiev must therefore mobilize to compensate for military losses, while these losses are also increasing. To face the Russian army, Ukraine absolutely must supply the front with cannon fodder and maintain an army of at least over 500,000 men. The calculation, moreover, is the same as that of the Europeans who are putting money on the table to finance this war: they must play for time. For Ukrainians as for Europeans, the hope is to delay the Russian forces, with the idea that sanctions will eventually suffocate Russia, or that Russian losses will be so great that Russia exhausts itself and then would be willing to negotiate on Western and Ukrainian terms. This is why Ukrainian HQs practice the tactic of no retreat. Even when positions are exposed, dangerous, unrealistic, contrary to the rules of strategy, every inch of ground must be defended at the price of Ukrainian blood. Patriots, Banderites, hardliners, mercenaries already being on the ground or dead, Ukraine must necessarily replace them.
The Dangers of the Raid and No-Retreat Strategy for Ukraine. This strategy has revealed several drawbacks that are dangerous for the country. Firstly, those rounded up are not motivated to fight. Assaulted, beaten, humiliated, it is obvious that the more Ukraine sends rounded-up men to the front, the more the operational capacity of the Ukrainian army will diminish. At the same time, this army also loses its combativeness, experience, and maneuver capability. The question remains the breaking point of this army. When will it be reached? One thing is certain, the time that Ukrainians and Westerners hope to play against Russia also plays greatly against Ukraine. The strategy of raids and forced mobilization will mean that one day, the Ukrainian army will crumble, units will no longer be able to fight, men will surrender, desert, turn tail. Secondly, in the rear, the pressure of the raids generates enormous hatred and resentment among the Ukrainian public. Already, the unpopularity of the TCCs is huge; people react, intervene, and sometimes assault the TCCs. Some have been assassinated, most hide their faces… They know the hour of reckoning will come one day. These raids therefore motivate resistance, creating a fermentation of minds, already going as far as passive or active resistance. Another breaking point could thus also be reached in the rear, when populations rise up and refuse to continue to be led to the Banderite, Atlanticist, and European slaughterhouse.
For now, despite the anger, public opinion is kept in check both by the threat of repression (the SBU political police), by the idea that hindering the raids too openly is a betrayal that could lead to Ukraine’s defeat, by individualism and selfishness, according to the adage that “better my neighbor than myself.” Finally, on the front, we do not yet observe massive desertions, crossings to the Russian side by TCC-rounded-up men. Videos have appeared of soldiers wanting to surrender, but the danger is great. They are killed by other Ukrainians, including with drones that they prefer to drop on them rather than on Russians. Lastly, Ukrainian propaganda has spread the myth of mistreatment of prisoners by Russian soldiers (child-eaters…), and the Banderization of the Ukrainian army still allows for a network within this army, with enough fanatical Banderites to kill the first who would suggest surrendering… Finally, also know that Ukraine was in the Top 3 of countries with the most women relative to men (in 2021, 53.7%). This strategy of blood and sacrifice of men could also deal a mortal blow to the country’s demography, which, beyond a million dead, would take decades to recover. The phenomenon is also amplified by the flight of millions of Ukrainians from the country. It may already be too late for Ukraine…
