Ukraine is almost done forming new assault brigades, also known as the Offensive Guard, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko announced on March 11.
According to Klymenko, 28,000 volunteers have already applied to join the Offensive Guard. The forces are now collecting reservists.
Training for the Offensive Guard is already underway, the minister added. Members of these units will train for two-to-four months before seeing combat, according to an earlier statement by National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk.
The Offensive Guard brigades are meant to strengthen Ukraine's Armed Forces and help them liberate occupied territories. This initiative and its recruitment drive were announced at the start of February.
Ukraine Weekly reported that the idea came from the previous Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, who died in a helicopter crash in Brovary in Kyiv Oblast in January.
Ukraine Weekly quoted Klymenko as saying that these units will contain many veterans of prior combat with Russia. These include people who fought in Donbas and defended Kyiv and Kharkiv oblasts.
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