- Ukraine is recruiting prisoners to join the fight against Russia, with more than 4,000 prisoners having applied so far.
- The Government is making an offer to prisoners according to which their sentences will be remitted if they serve in the Army without leave until the war is over, after which they will be paroled.
- Some crimes, such as multiple murders, sexual offenses and treason, make Ukrainian prisoners ineligible to serve sentences.
In an effort to replenish his dwindling infantry numbers, Ukraine has There has been a push to recruit prisoners to join the fight against Russia, and so far over four thousand people have applied.
According to an offer made by the government to the prisoners, the remaining sentences of the prisoners – regardless of their duration – would be pardoned if they agreed to serve in the army without leave until the end of the war.
At that time, he will be granted parole.
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“My mother was in hysterics … I’ve been here for five years – one year left, and I’m going to war,” one of the signatories, Mykola Rybalka, told Reuters in the courtyard of his prison in the Kiev region.
Prisoners walk in a prison courtyard in the Kiev region of Ukraine on May 30, 2024. To fill its dwindling number of infantry soldiers, Ukraine has recruited prisoners to join the fight against Russia and so far more than four thousand people have applied. (Reuters/Thomas Peter)
Rybalka, who said he is jailed for theft, is one of 129 inmates in the colony of 700 who have applied to join the jail. ArmyAccording to the Ministry of Justice.
He said, “You know, five years spent behind these walls leave their mark. You have seen a lot and understood a lot. Now you are not afraid of anything.”
Ukraine, which has a population of about 38 million while Russia has a population of 144 million, is having difficulty recruiting sufficient numbers of soldiers, especially to fight on the front lines, where they bear the brunt of enemy attacks and suffer heavy losses.
Kiev’s forces are facing a planned Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, a military official said
Its troops are outnumbered and exhausted, and a new law was recently signed that aims to mobilise several hundred thousand additional troops – though it will likely take months to mobilise enough new troops.
“There is competition among military commanders to hire (the prisoners) because there is a manpower shortage, so they really want access to these people,” Justice Minister Denis Maliuska told reporters who visited the prison on Thursday.
Recruiters from Ukraine’s 3rd and 5th Assault Brigades present at the press conference described the prisoners’ motivation as generally high.
A representative of the 5th Brigade, who identified himself as Vladislav, told Reuters his brigade had recruited about 90 people from prison, and was recruiting more.
He said those who join his brigade will be housed in separate, prisoner-only units, and commanders will keep a close eye on them.
However, there is little chance of their escape given the attacks being carried out by Russia to force a disorganised retreat, Vladislav said.
Oleh Petrenko, a representative of the Third Brigade, said his brigade would not treat convicts differently from other individuals.
“We don’t see any difference between normal mobilized people and prisoners.”
Thousands of people apply
Early in the full-scale war, the private Russian mercenary group Wagner recruited thousands of Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine, offering them full amnesty if they survived six months at the front.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has since continued to recruit convicts from prisons for its Storm-Z forces.
In Ukraine, prisoners convicted of certain crimes are barred from serving their sentences. These crimes include murder of two or more people, manslaughter by drunk driving, sexual crimes, treason, and corruption.
The Justice Ministry said so far 4,564 prisoners have applied to join the army. They must undergo medical examinations and have their applications approved by a court – more than 1,700 have already been given the green light.
The minister had earlier said he hoped to enrol 10,000 to 20,000 prisoners in total.
Maliuska said he expected most applicants to serve their sentences in about two months. Reuters was invited to a local courthouse, and saw how a judge approved the application of a man serving a sentence for armed robbery.
He appeared via video link from jail and the process took about 10 minutes.
Judge Dmytro Tkachenko said the prison made sure to send only applicants who met the law’s criteria to prison, and that he and two other judges heard 10 to 20 such cases per day last week.
Two applications out of about 100 were rejected, both because the applicants changed their minds.
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Under the new law, 782 prisoners have already been released from jail and handed over to the armed forces.
“They will be in the media spotlight, and if there is even one fugitive or one crime, there will be talk in the media about it and that will be bad public relations for us,” Maliuska said.
Twenty-three-year-old Vitaliy Yatsenko, who is serving a seven-year sentence for selling drugs, said he had hoped to sign up at the start of Russia The invasion was not permitted, but it was not permitted at that time.
Now he has submitted his application to join the army.
“First of all, I want to help my country. And I want society to understand that people have the ability to be rehabilitated.”
