KYIV. Dec 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Non-staff advisor of the President's Office for strategic communications in the national security and defense sectors Oleksiy Arestovych says that in the near future a presidential bill on territorial defense will be developed and submitted to the Verkhovna Rada.

"According to the presidential decree, the presidential bill [on territorial defense] will be introduced in the near future," he said at the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday.

In addition, Arestovych said the alternative parliamentary bill, which has already been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, contains risks that will be removed in the presidential initiative.

According to member of the Council of Volunteers under the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and advisor to the commander of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Denys Podanchuk, two approaches are currently being discussed. In particular, according to one concept, all territorial defense will remain within the Land Forces, and according to the second, territorial defense will become a separate branch of the armed forces.