New rotations in the Chernivtsi TRC: Colonel Potyakov returns to the position

New rotations in the Chernivtsi TRC: Colonel Potyakov returns to the position

In Chernivtsi, the head of the regional TRC and SS, Colonel Serhiy Arushanyan, has been dismissed. He headed the TRC in the region for less than five months. Currently, Arushanyan has been transferred to serve in one of the military units.

This information was confirmed to Suspilne by the spokeswoman of the Chernivtsi Regional TRC and SP, Tetyana Haydashchuk.

According to her, personnel changes are currently taking place in the regional TRC. The reasons for them have not been disclosed yet.

Colonel Serhiy Potyakov is temporarily performing the duties of the head of the Chernivtsi Regional TRC and SS. He previously headed the regional TRC—from September 2023 to the end of August 2025.

Haydashchuk also reported that the heads of the Chernivtsi city and district TRCs have been dismissed. They have been assigned to serve in other military units.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the heads of the Chernivtsi Regional TRC and SS have changed several times. Serhiy Arushanyan was appointed to this position by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on December 7, 2025. Before that, he was the deputy head of the TRC and headed the mobilization and defence work sector.

Before Arushanyan, Serhiy Potyakov was the head of the regional TRC. He held the position until September 6, as he voluntarily transferred to serve in one of the combat military units. At that time, no new head was appointed, and Yuriy Myronets performed the duties, as reported to Suspilne by the regional TRC in response to a request.

The response stated that Potyakov was transferred to the military unit by order dated August 28. At the same time, the TRC did not provide information on which fronts the military unit is performing combat tasks or what duties Serhiy Potyakov is performing there.

Serhiy Potyakov was appointed to the position of head of the Chernivtsi Regional TRC in September 2023. Before that, Ihor Sorokopud headed the TRC—he was transferred to another position in one of the Armed Forces units when President Zelenskyy issued a decree dismissing all heads of regional recruitment centers.

Before his appointment, Potyakov was the deputy commander of the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade named after Hetman Danylo Apostol. In 2022, he received the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi III degree, as stated in the president’s decree.

According to BukInfo data, Serhiy Potyakov had an unofficial conflict with the former head of the Chernivtsi RMA, Ruslan Zaparanyuk.

Thus, in December 2023, at a meeting in the «house with lions» with the participation of the region’s leadership and law enforcement structures of Bukovyna, in the part dedicated to mobilization issues for the Defence Forces of Ukraine, Potyakov publicly expressed outrage at the «incompetence» and «superficial grasp of the situation» of the Chernivtsi RMA head, Ruslan Zaparanyuk, on the discussed issue.

This was reported to BukInfo by two independent sources who were present at this meeting.

According to the sources, after expressing his outrage, Serhiy Potyakov intended to leave the meeting, but Ruslan Zaparanyuk, reacting very nervously to Serhiy Potyakov’s demarche, asked him to stay at the event.

It is not surprising that the new head of the region, Ruslan Osypenko, who knows what the front is like not from photos on social media, has a different approach and attitude toward combat officers…