In Ukraine, a legal conflict has arisen regarding administrative fines imposed by Territorial Centers for Recruitment (TCK) on conscripts who were later mobilized. On the "Lawyers.UA" portal, lawyers answered whether fines should be paid in such cases. This is reported by Novyny.Live.
Although many believe that upon entering military service, all penalties should be canceled, lawyers provide contradictory explanations. Human rights defenders have not reached a consensus regarding the necessity of paying these penalties.
Position 1: The fine must be paid
Lawyer Yuriy Ayvazyan emphasized that mobilization is not a basis for the automatic cancellation of debt. He noted:
'Mobilization of a man is unrelated to his violation of military accounting rules in the status of 'conscriptee'.
Therefore, if a man does not pay 8,500 hryvnias, he will later have to pay 17,000 hryvnias.' He added that in case of non-payment of this doubled amount, the TCK will forward the order for administrative liability to the enforcement service.
Position 2: The fine should have been canceled.
Another lawyer, Vladislav Deriy, assured that the situation with such fines is different, and a mobilized man should not be punished.
'A man should not be fined, and the case should have been closed, as military personnel who had violations of military accounting are fully exempt from fines from the TCK,' emphasized the lawyer.
His position is based on the general principle of exempting military personnel from administrative responsibility for accounting violations committed before mobilization.
Action algorithm for mobilized individuals
Since the legal practice is currently ambiguous, Vladislav Deriy advises not to pay the fine and actively defend your rights.
Actions to appeal the TCK fine after mobilization:
- Submit a request to the TCK demanding an official cancellation of the fine based on obtaining military service status.
- Appeal the TCK order in court, using the fact of military service as an argument.
Since military personnel are fully exempt from paying these penalties, appealing in court can be an effective means of protection against forced collection. Earlier, we wrote about how to find out if there is a fine from the TCK.
Earlier, we wrote that after July 17, 2025, territorial recruitment centers lost the ability to impose fines for untimely updating military accounting data. This applies to violations that occurred a year ago - by July 16, 2024, Ukrainians had to update their information through "Reserve+" or in person at TCK.