Ukrainian territorial defence battalions


Territorial defence battalions were volunteer battalions |volunteer] military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the auspices of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence in 2014–2015. They should not be confused with the volunteer units of Special Tasks Patrol Police of Ukraine created along with territorial defense battalions, but under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior. Together, they are both collectively known as the Ukrainian volunteer battalions. The battalions were established in mid-2014, during the early stages of the war in Donbas, to combat the pro-Russian separatists and the forces of the Donetsk People's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic, and the United Armed Forces of Novorossiya. 32 volunteer territorial defence battalions were formed.
In autumn 2014, most of the territorial defence battalions were reorganized as motorized infantry battalions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In 2022, the Territorial Defense Forces were created as a successor of the old territorial defense battalions.

History

In March 2014, acting President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov issued an order to create seven territorial defence battalions. These formations were subordinated to the Ministry of Defense. Battalions generally took their name from wherever most of their recruits were from.
File:Aidar Battalion, Lugansk region 48.jpg|thumb|Soldier of the Aidar Battalion training with an RPG-26
Since 30 April 2014, all territorial defence battalions have been part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and fall under the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the governors of the oblasts in which they were created. By law, every oblast in Ukraine should create its own territorial defence battalions.
During the opening stages of the war in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military and police forces were largely ineffective in separatist areas, often surrendering equipment or overwhelmed in cities by large crowds of civilians. Federalist and pro-Russian insurgents quickly gained large swaths of territory. Ukraine also lost control of the Ukrainian–Russian border and this allowed a large inflow of insurgents and military supplies from Russia.
By August 2014 over 5,600 volunteers had joined defence battalions across Ukraine and about 7,000 volunteers had joined by the end of September.
The Russian Communist Party pushed to label the battalions as terrorist organizations, even though they are directly subordinate to the Government of Ukraine and are legal government agencies of Ukraine. Russian politicians have not pushed for declaring pro-Russian insurgents fighting in Ukraine as terrorists.
In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election several members of the battalions were elected into the Ukrainian parliament.

Reorganization

On 10 November 2014, Stepan Poltorak, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, ordered territorial defence battalions to reorganize as motorized infantry battalions.

2022 Russian full-scale invasion

Before the invasion, the Ukrainian military had already begun an expansion process of the territorial defense forces in preparation of the Russian invasion. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government announced general mobilisation and formed new territorial defense battalions to accommodate the influx in men. Theoretically, the TDF could field up to 150 battalions. In social media statements by the TDF, several previously unseen battalion numbers, such as the 103rd, 124th, 130th, 251st etc. were mentioned, indicating that the TDF has likely expanded far past the initially planned size.

Equipment

The battalions receive basic resources and weapons from the Interior Ministry or the Ministry of Defence. These resources soon proved to be inadequate and numerous groups have helped to equip the battalions. The best known volunteer groups are Self-defence of Maidan, which has its own warehouses in Melitopol, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv, and Army SOS, an initiative of former Euromaidan activists. Volunteers provide things like: hygiene items, food, sleeping bags, night vision goggles and multicopters.

List of territorial defence battalions