Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2022 to Question 143803 on Ukraine: Armed Forces, what assessment he has made of (a) size and (b) location of the new new territorial defence units reported to have been set up or inspired by the Azov battalion and situated beyond Mariupol.

The size of Ukraine's Territorial Defence Forces is estimated to be 10,000 military professionals supplemented by 130,000 reservists. Since Russia's invasion, Ukraine has sought to expand these forces to include 1.5 - 2 million citizens.

The Territorial Defence Forces are distributed around each of Ukraine's regions and in Kyiv. Some units may have worked with the Azov Battalion in and around the Mariupol region to recruit and train volunteers.