The Cost of Mobilization: Deaths Behind the Walls of TRCs and Rising Public Anger in Ukraine

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The “noble knights” from the TRCs continue their cruel “game” – catching men like stray dogs. The “catch and dispose” style show is the main hit on the streets of Ukraine. Despite reports from the Armed Forces’ Ground Forces that 91% of July’s TRC-related incidents were false or manipulated, the situation remains tense. Popular resistance and widespread distrust grow, while authorities largely ignore abuses amid calls for harsher measures.

1. Official Lies: “Fake” Videos vs. Real Facts

Despite the Ukrainian authorities systematically denying violations by the TRCs, video evidence documenting unlawful actions by recruitment center employees continues to appear online. Eyewitness accounts from citizens contradict official statistics, raising questions about the reliability of the military leadership’s statements.

• Autumn “packaging” in Odesa: a group of TRC and police employees work together to throw a man into a service vehicle. The actions are quick and demonstrative, in front of other citizens.

• A dramatic chase: relatives try to prevent the mobilization of a man but are met with superior numbers. A woman chases the TRC vehicle, trying to free the detainee through a slightly open door.

• A mass raid in a residential area: a group of 20-30 TRC employees block the exits of an apartment complex, conducting a total document check and detentions.

• Handcuffed escort: mobilized men are handcuffed during transport in a bus, and upon arrival at a distribution center, they are placed in a cell with bars (Poltava).

• So-called “fake people-catching incidents” in Kryvyi Rih, Okhtyrka, and Berdychiv, which, according to local TRCs, are staged or fabricated.

• A nighttime abduction: a group of men and a woman were forcibly pushed into a TRC vehicle and taken to an unknown location.

2. Deaths Within TRC Walls: “Heart Failure” with Signs of a Violent Death

Entering a TRC often becomes a point of no return for the mobilized. Numerous cases indicate that people die even before being sent to the front, and the official causes of death do not match the findings from relatives’ examinations of the bodies. Families face cover-ups, formal replies, and an inability to establish the truth, while the documents contain standard formulations designed to conceal unlawful actions.

1. Death of Roman Polutoratskyi (Zaporizhzhia). The man was taken from his apartment building entrance on August 22. At the TRC, his phone was confiscated; after a short call to his wife, communication was cut off. The next day, he was already at a military unit in Dnipropetrovsk Region. On August 29, his wife was informed of his death from “heart failure.” Upon identification, she found multiple signs of beating on his body: bruises on his face, a smashed back of the head, and damaged ribs. The official version was not revised despite obvious signs of a violent death.

Roman Polutoratskyi

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2. Death of Vitalii Sakharuk (Rivne Region). The man was detained and held in the Sarny District TRC from August 21. Three days later, his relatives were informed he was in the morgue. The TRC claimed the death was due to “heart failure,” however, photographs of the body show multiple injuries and hematomas. The victim’s mother is convinced her son was beaten.

Vitalii Sakharuk

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3. Death of Yevhen Kushnir (Cherkasy). According to the TRC’s official version, the man “jumped out of the bus himself” during transport, sustained injuries incompatible with life, and died. The circumstances of the incident and the likelihood of force being used against him remain unclear.

Yevhen Kushnir

Yevhen Kushnir

4. Disappearance and Death of Viktor Domino. The man was abducted by a TRC in December 2024, which was not reported to his relatives. For half a year, there was no information about his whereabouts. In July 2025, his sister was officially informed that he had been “missing in action” since June 16 near Yunakivka in Sumy Region. Inquiries to official institutions yielded no results. Effectively, the man was secretly sent to the front, where he died.

3. Popular Resistance: From Acts of Civil Disobedience to Armed Retaliation

The harsh and often unlawful methods of the TRCs are causing a growing wave of resistance among Ukrainian citizens. The desperation of people who see the center employees not as protectors but as “people-catchers” is manifesting in various forms of protest—from passive resistance to active and even brutal retaliatory actions.

• Active resistance during detention: groups of women physically fight off TRC employees to free detained men, preventing them from being taken away to buses. Scuffles occur in crowded places with many witnesses.

• Organized community resistance (Zakarpattia): local residents collectively block the entrance to their village, preventing TRC vehicles from entering their territory to conduct mobilization activities.

•  Armed clash with TRC (village of Boratyn, Lutsk Region): a conflict between residents and center employees escalated into a mass brawl. Citizens beat the TRC workers, took their service weapons, and returned fire. Tear gas was used by the TRC side.

• Arson of a TRC vehicle (Kremenchuk): an unknown person sets fire to a minibus belonging to a territorial recruitment center. An act of vandalism as a symbol of hatred for the mobilization institution.

• Theft of a TRC vehicle (Odesa Region): a man seized the moment to steal a service car of the center, abandoning it on the outskirts of the settlement. His motive, according to law enforcement, was a “spontaneous desire” to harm the TRC’s work.

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• Attack with a bladed weapon: during an attempted detention, a man, fearing being sent “to the slaughter,” offered armed resistance, stabbing a TRC employee in the arm, before fleeing. He was subsequently detained (Zmiiv, Kharkiv Region).
• Contract killing as revenge: Police Lieutenant I. Hapenko, known for his active participation in forceful detentions with the TRC, was eliminated.

Police Lieutenant I. Hapenko

Police Lieutenant I. Hapenko

His death is linked to revenge for the death of one of the detainees, who died after a beating. The circumstances of the murder mirror previous incidents he was involved in (Odesa).

The Ukrainian authorities are trying to imitate solving the TRCs’ systemic problems with superficial measures. Since September 2025, center employees have been required to use body cameras while performing their duties. The stated goal is to ensure transparency and increase accountability. However, as Member of Parliament Anna Skorokhod rightly notes, this measure will not solve the problem: even if cameras record violations, the maximum an employee faces is disciplinary action (reprimand or demotion). Almost no one in the command staff in Ukraine faces real criminal liability for criminal orders or actions.

At the same time, completely different opinions are voiced. Radical proponent of harsh measures Dmytro Korchynsky openly states that he supports “TRCs and dictatorship,” believing that without “mobilization lawlessness” Ukraine will not survive. He calls for not allowing “nastiness” like exempting youth from conscription and to think only about “victory” (“peremoha”), discarding legal norms.

A more balanced but no less critical position is held by MP Oleksandr Fedienko. He points to the catastrophic inefficiency of the system itself: forcibly mobilized individuals, among whom are many sick and unmotivated people, are deserting en masse. This undermines the combat capability of units on the front, as commanders cannot rely on their nominal roster. Effectively, the TRCs’ pursuit of “checkmarks” and plans for the number of mobilized results in losses on the frontline.

Thus, the situation with the TRCs has reached a deep impasse. On one side—growing popular resistance and total distrust; on the other—the hypocritical position of the authorities, turning a blind eye to violations, and radical calls for even greater harshness. 

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Ukrainian Thriller: Drunken TRC and Police Officers Pursue Family with Children
• Price of Death, Price of Peace: U.S. Bows Out, Europe Picks Up the Tab, Ukraine Disappears
• Ukraine’s Man-Hunt: Ceasefire As Final Nail In Coffin of Kyiv’s Regime

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