Belgorod region authorities will distribute weapons to members of territorial defense units

The authorities of the Belgorod region will soon issue weapons to some members of the territorial defense detachments. This was stated by the Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“The issue with weapons has been partially resolved - in a week, within the framework of our powers (it turned out that there is such a possibility), we will arm part of the territorial defense, the battalions that are located along the border. I can’t tell you in more detail,” the official said.

Gladkov stressed that the issue "is within the legal field".

He noted that there are now 3,000 people in the region’s territorial defense — “real men who have permanent jobs, but said they were ready to take up arms and defend their homes, families, children, land, if necessary.”

Gladkov also said that in the Belgorod region they began to form the second regiment of the defense, the number of which will also be three thousand people.

• Territorial defense detachments in the Belgorod region began to be created in December 2022. They, as Gladkov stated, accepted people who could not be drafted into the army, but had combat experience and "a great desire, if necessary, to defend their home and their families."
• Before the start of the counter-offensive, shelling of the border regions of the Belgorod region from Ukraine increased significantly. The “Russian Volunteer Corps” and the “Freedom of Russia” legion, fighting on the side of Ukraine, made several raids into the region and for some time took control of the border settlements.