Ukraine is releasing more than three thousand prisoners so they can join the fight against Russia.
Several convicts assembled under barbed wire in rural penal colony in southeast Ukraine, as an army recruiter offered them parole in return for fighting Russia according to a report by AP news.
The recruiter told them “You can put an end to this and start a new life….the main thing is your will, because you are going to defend the motherland. You won’t succeed at 50%, you have to give 100% of yourself, even 150%.”
MSN reports: Ukraine is expanding the draft to cope with acute battlefield shortages more than two years into fighting against Russia’s full-scale invasion. And its recruiting efforts have turned, for the first time, to the country’s prison population.
Although Ukraine does not announce any details of troop deployment numbers or casualties, frontline commanders openly acknowledge that they are facing serious manpower problems as Russian continues to build up forces in eastern Ukraine and make incremental gains westward
More than 3,000 prisoners already have been released on parole and assigned to military units after such recruitment was approved by parliament in a controversial mobilization bill last month, Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska told The Associated Press.
About 27,000 inmates could potentially be eligible for the new program, according to Justice Ministry estimates.