Friday, November 22, 2024

Ukraine’s prisoners flock to the front line for revenge, not amnesty

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Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said last month that his army needed more men to boost the forces’ morale.

He said: “We need to staff the reserves… A large number of [brigades] are empty.”

Many Ukrainian soldiers have been fighting for over two years without the possibility of being discharged.

“We need to do this so that the guys have a normal rotation. Then their morale will be improved,” Mr Zelensky said.

Kyiv has recently tightened draft laws to try to mobilise several hundred thousand more soldiers, but that process may take months.

In the meantime, brigades are keen to take convicts.

Denys Maliuska, justice minister, said last month: “There is competition between military commanders to hire [prisoners] since there is a lack of manpower, so they really want to have access to these people.” 

In total across the country, nearly 5,000 prisoners are said to have volunteered as part of the scheme. The minister has previously said he expects between 10,000 and 20,000 inmates to sign up in total.

Volunteers told The Telegraph they were driven by different things such as patriotism, revenge, or a chance to turn over a new leaf and end a cycle of crime and punishment.

Oleksander made his choice despite his sentence finishing in three months.

“After three months, I would be free, but I would have to work and hide from the draft officers,” he said.

He admits some fellow inmates thought he was “crazy” for taking the deal.

Some 300 former prisoners will pass through this camp to be trained up for the 59th brigade, which has seen heavy fighting in Kherson, Avdiivka and Krasnohorivka.

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