 The regular Russian army protecting Crimea was crushed. Sergei Aksyanov, the head of the temporarily occupied Crimea, is likely keen to burnish his patriotic credentials by recruiting fighters into the created local paramilitary units. The British Defence Ministry said this in its intelligence update, published on Twitter. It is noted that over at least the last 20 years, Russia has experienced a proliferation of paramilitary groups out of its regular armed forces. However, this paramilitarization has dramatically accelerated since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and is particularly important in the Crimean Peninsula. The leader of Russian-occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyanov, has been instrumental in setting up several local units, which often claim affiliation with the Cossack tradition. Most have been given some semi-official status as reserve units of the regular army, the report says. According to the British intelligence, Aksyanov is likely keen to burnish his patriotic credentials by recruiting fighters, but he is likely also concerned about the regular army's ability to defend the peninsula. The main element of the Russian garrison 22nd Army Corps is currently most deployed outside the peninsula and has taken heavy casualties, the British intelligence said. As reported earlier, the Kremlin appointed the head of temporarily occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyanov, established his own private military company, Convoy, on the peninsula, which is managed by Konstantin Pikalov, the right-hand man of the founder of Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozin.