Ukrainian territorial defence: how regular city dwellers will vanquish the fierce Russian bear

A member of the territorial defence northeast of Kyiv. Photo courtesy a member of the territorial defence.

ANDRII HOROBCHUK: What is the difference between the territorial defence and the regular army?

ROMAN: Territorial defence emerged in Ukraine around 2016, when security companies and defence detachments consisting of local residents were formed into groups in case a military threat began to appear in the area. Whereas the armed forces perform tasks anywhere in the country, the territorial defence is meant for local residents to defend their own territory. For example, a certain district in a city. These people are supposed to be assigned to the military enlistment office of the district that they will defend. These are irregular units, reservists. These people train in their free time and it was assumed that they would only be mobilised in the case of a “zero hour”. In 2021, a law was adopted and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that turned the territorial defence units into regular armed forces units. Today, they form a full-fledged service. The organisation has equal rights and functions. In peacetime, there are two ways to serve. One is in the reserves, when a person who signs a contract attends sessions, trains in his or her spare time, combines training with regular employment, and is mobilised during an armed conflict. They are there to contribute to the backbone of regular soldiers. The management of the territorial battalions is made up of professional military personnel.

IRYNA: In this war the territorial defence force is a key unit regarding the mobilisation of the population. This means that all those who wanted to volunteer for the armed forces joined the territorial defence. This service is developing as we speak. If initially we planned that they would be just people with light arms, we now have grenade launchers and mine throwers. We are also getting supplies of heavy artillery. So, the territorial defence is quickly transforming into a full-fledged military unit. Each district has formed a battalion for people who live within walking distance of the headquarters. They know the area very well and are ready to help. Even if they are not fit to serve immediately, they work as civil volunteers. They are highly motivated because they are defending their land, the city blocks where they live. It is not the same as people who are enlisted, put on trains and sent to faraway places where they have never been. People here defend their families, their homes.

What kind of tasks does a city district territorial battalion perform?

ROMAN: The first order priority is to set up the headquarters and mobilise the population. In the first days of the war, we had about a thousand people a day come to us. We had to interview them, determine whether they were fit to serve, sign a contract, equip them, assign them to specific units, form the units and start training them. This was a huge task and a top priority. Then we gradually started to guard and defend strategic objects located in the district. The system to monitor and control the perimeter was set up. Observation points and patrols were formed, as well as rapid response teams that catch sabotage and reconnaissance groups and disable enemy sniper positions. We are responsible for the area where we are located. If we are located in the way of the enemy troops, we have built checkpoints on those roads, anti-tank barriers and other engineering structures. In addition, intelligence works to collect information on the enemy’s actions.

Has co-operation with the armed forces, police and other security agencies been established?

IRYNA: Of course. Since we are located in the city we closely cooperate with police, the National Guard, Security Service and other agencies to make sure there is collaboration and synergy. We exchange information to make sure that there are no instances of friendly fire. We do this to make sure that when a unit moves it is clear that this is our unit, as there are multiple enemy sabotage groups, including those in disguise and without insignia.

What are the goals of these enemy groups, what do they plan to achieve?

ROMAN: First of all, they hope to identify the pockets of resistance such as the territorial defence. We have already faced enemy fire, including rockets. Air defence works to protect us. Enemy scouts, spotters and artillery observers work to gather information for enemy artillery and aircraft.

Do snipers work against you?

ROMAN: Yes, our dislocation point has already been shot at. In the early days when we still had not deployed and organised our patrols, they took up positions in the neighbouring buildings and opened fire.

Do you work exclusively in your district or do you help other units as well?

ROMAN: So far, we have been helping with information, evacuation and delivery of supplies for our friendly units.

What are other functions of the territorial defence besides the military functions?

IRYNA: Another very important function is to help the population when a humanitarian crisis happens. We are currently working with relief organisations to stock up on food, water, medical supplies, and warm clothes to assist civilians in our district. And we provide moral and psychological support. A lot of people experienced great suffering during the bombardments. They have often been sitting in cold underground shelters for two weeks with children and are scared. And for this reason, we work with psychologists to help these people. One other function we perform is so-called civil intelligence. Local residents pass information to us about suspicious people and our rapid response group immediately goes to the location to conduct an inspection.

Has your unit detained any saboteurs or groups yet?

ROMAN: We have detained multiple Russian intelligence officers with Russian passports. They had been planning acts of sabotage around railroads and in the city and were detained by our fighters. We also identify sniper positions and saboteurs who conduct surveillance and take photos. We detain them ourselves or jointly with police.

The backbone of the territorial defence is comprised of professional military officers and the rest are civilians. How do you approach their training? 

ROMAN: Battalion commanders are professional military officers. Companies have also been formed, commanded only by combat officers who fought in Donbas and have experience in coordination and defence. These combat officers train new recruits. Of course, when recruiting people, we prefer those who have combat experience or at least experience of conscription. However, there are not enough of these people so we accept guys who have high motivation and organise daily trainings for them to give them sufficient preparation to be able to carry out military tasks. Basic arms handling skills sufficient for a soldier or a sergeant can be acquired rather quickly. Of course, it is not realistic to train an officer in such a short time. We have officers, however.

What is the situation with supplies like food, protective gear and medicines? 

IRYNA: So far, we have an uninterrupted supply only of light arms and other kinds of weapons. As for water, food, gear and medical supplies, all of this currently falls on the shoulders of civil volunteers who are not necessarily local. We receive supplies from abroad on an industrial scale. So far, it’s the volunteers who take care of this but we already have enough to form reserves for the civilian population as well. This is true for food and medical supplies. The situation with gear is more difficult. However, everybody already has clothes, shoes, gloves and can stay warm. And we have formed a sufficient number of companies.

So, you already have a full house of fighters or is there no clearly defined limitations on the number of people per unit?

IRYNA: We continue expanding. And if in the early days we were frantically recruiting volunteers and did not really have a choice, now people who are not fit to serve for psychological or health reasons are gradually stepping aside. We replace them with other people who have been on the reserve list. We call them in and have an interview in a calm atmosphere.

Iryna, you are a slender woman. What is your position and functions?

IRYNA: In peacetime I was considered deputy company commander. Currently I am a battalion psychologist, an officer psychologist. However, because everybody now started doing the best they can, I have formed a civil-military co-operation unit, a volunteer centre and my own unit. When I saw potentially talented boys who had not served in the army even as conscripts but played football, for example, and had an understanding of tactics and could learn quickly, I had them train with an instructor for two weeks and then they moved on to their respective combat units. So, I already have both staff and volunteers, about 20 people and a group of soldiers who are being trained to use light arms. Now I am recruiting new ones, a second group.

So, you are simultaneously a psychologist, the person preparing training groups and someone who leads civil volunteers?

IRYNA: That’s right. My unit is in charge of all volunteer supplies starting with hot food and ending with anti-tank barriers and excavators that dig ditches plus recruiting. Because I have extensive experience with anti-crisis management and communications, all this has come in handy. I have applied all the skills that I could apply.

Roman, what are the relations like between people in the unit? Many civilians have come to server, but some probably did not really understand where they were going. What is the general atmosphere in the territorial defence currently?

ROMAN: In general, a gathering of such motivated and positive people as we have here, is very hard to come by. These are volunteers who receive no payment and who have been living in the same bunks with us, helping us every day free of charge. They use their talents, perform their civic duties, defend their country by helping the military and enjoy this. They no longer can imagine a different way. One can only imagine a similar level of altruism and civic consciousness under such circumstances. Obviously, conflicts happen just like in any other society, someone wants to assert himself, someone wants to order others around. This is why we have psychologists, and this does not affect the general situation. 

What does the average day of a territorial defence member look like?

ROMAN: I am a headquarters officer and my day starts at 7:30 in the morning with a commander meeting and then we start carrying out our missions. Since the war has started, we face new challenges every day, we orient ourselves by the situation. We report every four hours including at night. We have no regular sleep. This is the reality because there are always air raid sirens or some troubles in the unit. The sleep is half dozing. In general, there is a lot of work.

What is the hardest part?

IRYNA: I personally lack privacy. We are deployed in barracks, thousands of people in the same space. This is tough because everyone has some needs and issues and there is nowhere to hide. To make sure no one goes crazy the army has to work all the time, the units have to always be busy with something, such as learning or training. People are now shocked with what is happening and many people come to us and give us something to do because we cannot just sit with our arms folded, we would go crazy because of this. Therefore, our task as officers is to think every day about ways to keep them busy, to train, teach and coordinate so that they do not stay idle but prepare as efficiently as possible to perform their missions. In addition, we are stationed at a non-military facility, so our task is to turn it into one, reinforcing it as much as possible and building the appropriate engineering structures. It’s a huge amount of work to be done from the ground up. We are involved in a dozen large-scale projects at the same time. Our workday, of course, has no set hours. But we understand very well the purpose of all this. We defend our children, our parents, our land. And we believe in our victory.

Translated by Julia Kazdobina

Iryna and Roman are officers with the Territorial Defence Headquarters in one Kyiv’s districts.

Andrii Horobchuk is a journalist based in Kyiv.

territorial defence, Ukraine, Ukraine at war