This was reported to Radio Svoboda by a representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

"The first thing that concerns these so-called volunteer battalions. This is a new approach that the Russian Federation started very recently. A month ago, about 50 subjects of the Russian Federation received an order to form battalions numbering 500-600 people. We clearly know that 8 battalions have already been formed today. It is planned to form 8 more battalions by the end of the month. There will be such a battalion in every region, including Crimea, Moscow, and St. Petersburg," Vadym Skibitsky said.

According to the representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the process of formation of volunteer battalions takes place through the military headquarters and is under the control of the state.

In addition, according to the information of the military intelligence of Ukraine, Russia is forming another corps in the Nizhny Novgorod region - this is from 10 to 15 thousand people.

"There is also formation, combat coordination, and other issues related to creating a new association. And we do not rule out that this corps will be transferred to our territory. The Russian leadership is trying to streamline the process of creating volunteer formations so that they have powerful offensive and defensive capabilities and can act like the battalion tactical groups that we defeated. These are big losses for the Russian Federation because those were selected, the most combat-ready and experienced units," said the representative of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.