He gave no clues as to when or where Ukraine would launch its counter-offensive. "We will keep training, will train all the time while the brigade is being formed and while we are waiting for battle orders."
Rather than the army, the brigades are overseen by the Interior Ministry, like other units including the Azov Regiment, which gained global prominence for holding out against invading forces at Azovstal steel works in besieged Mariupol last year.
Klymenko said 2.5% of the brigades were made up of female fighters: "Our women are patriotic enough, strong and they hate the enemy no less than men, they want to serve."
New recruit Vakha, 21, was initially drafted into the army, but requested to be transferred to the Border of Steel, he said.
He praised the training on offer and said he thought it would provide a more rapid route to the east where the fiercest fighting is raging.
Dmytro, another fighter who worked in a currency exchange office in civilian life, said he had enlisted in the brigade because of desire for revenge and frontline fighting.
He signed up with the army last year, but was sent to defend the Ukrainian border with the Moldovan breakaway region of Transdniestria, where a small contingent of Russian troops are stationed but where there have been no hostilities so far.
"I wanted to join even more because I want revenge, as harsh as it may sound in the 21st century. We have to get revenge for all our people, for the murdered children," he said.
