The commonest mistake is to ring a lawyer only once you are already inside the TCC. Out in the street you can still record a breach of procedure and give no grounds for being taken in. In a TCC corridor your room for action narrows to challenging what has already happened.

Who exactly is in front of you

A notification team is made up of representatives of the Territorial Centre of Recruitment and Social Support (TCC). Often there is a police officer with them. The distinction is fundamental, and this is what it comes down to:

• TCC representatives have no power to detain you. Their job is notification — that is, serving summonses and updating military registration details.
• A police officer does have the right to check your documents and, where grounds exist, to apply administrative detention — for up to three hours, or, if you have no identity documents, until your identity is established.

Articles 261 and 263 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences; the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police”

So the first thing worth doing is to ask them to produce their service identification and to say aloud who is standing in front of you. If a video recording is running, that is captured automatically.

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A summons is the start of the procedure, not its result

This is the main thing this article was written for. Any demand by a TCC — to go before a military medical commission, to update your registration details, to appear for conscription — must be preceded by service of a summons. The summons determines where, when and why you have to come.

So the words “we're going to the MMC now”, said in the street to a man on whom nothing has been served, are not a lawful demand. At that point there is one lawful action: to fill in a summons, serve it on you against your signature and let you go.

The other side of the same rule: refusing to accept a summons achieves nothing. If you refuse, a statement is drawn up in the presence of witnesses and the summons is deemed to have been served. A demonstrative “I'm taking nothing” only adds a document to the file that does not help you. It is wiser to take the summons, read it carefully and check the particulars — your surname, the name of the TCC, the date and time you are to attend, the signature and the seal.

Six things to do on the spot

1. Do not run and do not physically resist. Even if the demands are unlawful. Running and resisting turn a dispute about procedure into separate proceedings against you — and every earlier breach fades into the background.
2. Start recording video. This is your right in a public place. Film the actions rather than the faces: the identification, the documents, the time, the address.
3. Ask them to produce their service identification and to state their positions and surnames aloud — so that they go on the recording.
4. Produce your military registration document. The law requires exactly that — to produce it, to show it. The electronic document in “Reserve+” has the same force as the paper one.
5. Ring a lawyer — and hand over the phone. A TCC representative speaking to a lawyer on the spot changes the tone of the conversation faster than any argument of yours.
6. Tell your family where you are — briefly, without discussing the circumstances.

Why a call from inside the TCC is already a different task

The difference between a call from the place you were stopped and a call from inside the TCC building is not a few minutes — it is what can still be done.

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If you have been taken to the TCC anyway

• Demand the administrative detention record and check the time in it — the three hours are counted from that moment.
• Do not sign documents whose contents you do not understand. Wordings such as “read and noted”, “I agree”, “I have no complaints” work against you later.
• After the MMC, demand a copy of the decision. Without it the finding is harder to challenge, and the time limits run out.
• Tell your lawyer the name of the TCC, the time you were brought in and the surnames — that is enough to start acting.

What failing to appear can cost you

This is worth knowing without illusions. Breaching the military registration rules and failing to appear on a summons carry administrative liability: from UAH 17,000 to UAH 25,500 for citizens. The ruling is issued by the TCC, and half the amount can be paid through “Reserve+” within the set period.

Articles 210 and 210-1 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences

Evading conscription during mobilisation is already criminal liability under Article 336 of the Criminal Code, and that means imprisonment. The difference between “did not appear on a summons” and “is evading” lies in proving intent — and that is exactly why it matters that every step you take is documented as lawful.

In short

This article is not about how to avoid getting a summons. It is about the procedure being observed on both sides: you do not run and you do not resist — and nothing is demanded of you for which there are no grounds. The most effective moment for a lawyer is the one while you are still standing in the street.