Lubinets: violations in TCCs are a “systemic crisis,” not isolated cases

The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, has stated that the situation with violations in territorial recruitment centers (TCCs) has grown into a systemic crisis.

In an interview with RBC-Ukraine, he named the main problems with mobilization and cited specific examples of how TCC staff and management avoid punishment for crimes committed.

Since the beginning of the year, the Ombudsman’s Office has received 6,000 appeals and complaints about violations by TCCs and military commissariats — a figure that has already surpassed the total for all of 2025. Lubinets explained that as far back as 2023 he had tried to resolve the problem exclusively through closed channels — via the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff, and the Ground Forces Command — but this yielded no results.

“I am criticized for playing into Russian propaganda. But what can you do when legal letters and closed meetings produced no results? You yourselves forced me to go public. The only thing that government bodies now respond to 100% is public criticism,” the ombudsman said.

According to him, the main driving forces behind the crisis are a loss of trust and corruption schemes.

“This is no longer a problem — it is a systemic crisis and a violation of the rights of Ukrainian citizens with regard to mobilization,” Lubinets said.

The ombudsman proposed two key instruments for overcoming the crisis: total transparency and the inevitability of punishment. On the transparency front, he insists on mandatory video recording: every TCC employee working in notification groups must have a body camera switched on, and all premises of recruitment centers must be equipped with video surveillance systems.

“If a body camera is turned off during a conflict situation, the system must by default operate on the presumption of the TCC employee’s guilt,” he stressed.

Lubinets also pointed to the need for the mandatory presence of National Police officers, who must respond to violations of the law on both sides. According to him, this year criminal proceedings have finally begun to result in actual court convictions: hundreds of searches have been conducted based on materials from the Ombudsman’s Office, nine TCC employees have been convicted in Odessa, and four employees in Zakarpattia are awaiting verdicts in pre-trial detention.

The ombudsman also dwelt separately on corruption schemes which, he said, permeate virtually every stage of mobilization. As an example, he cited a case discovered this week in Zakarpattia.

“The system has reached the point where children are simply being sold to men subject to military service. This week we discovered in Zakarpattia four children from a large family: the mother had sold her children to a man with no connection to that family whatsoever. He registered himself as a father of many children, left the country, and the children remained in Ukraine in terrible conditions,” Lubinets said.

Speaking about the impunity of TCC leadership, the ombudsman cited an example from Zakarpattia involving the former head of the regional TCC and military commissariat. According to him, the SBU conducted searches, found large sums of foreign currency directly at the workplace, after which the person was dismissed. However, two months later he returned to the same position with the prefix “acting,” and for 10 months this status was renewed every 30 days. Lubinets noted that throughout this time he had been sending inquiries and additional materials without any response.

“Tell me, is this a horizontal problem or a vertical one? I believe everything here is transparent, everything is right on the surface. And these are not isolated cases — it is not only in Zakarpattia,” the commissioner said.

Lubinets stressed that the main goal of the proposed changes is to restore a sense of equality before the law. In his view, a country at war cannot tolerate discrimination based on wealth, where the rich buy their way out while those without money go to fight.

On October 14, Lubinets also reported a new type of violation by TCC employees: representatives of the recruitment centers are entering private premises and courtyards and forcibly taking away male owners.