Ukrainian media and politicians have previously mocked Russia for recruiting prisoners to fight in the war, but now the Ukrainian authorities are forced to do the same amid the disrupted mobilisation, Ukrainian media reports.
During the first stages of the war in Ukraine, which started in 2022, the former head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, visited Russian prisons to recruit volunteers for the front. However, the following year, he reported that such practices had ceased.
The Ukrainian media actively condemned such a move on the part of Russia. However, now Kyiv faces pressure to turn its attention to Ukrainian prisons to replenish its dwindling military forces amid the unsuccessful mobilisation efforts.
The Ukrainian Justice Ministry Denys Maliuska stated that assault groups made up of prisoners would appear in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Ukrainian media reported.
As of right now, it will be assault units. Those will be units that, for the time being, consist solely of individuals who have served their sentences. In other words, they are solid units without mixing with other servicemen.
Maliuska noted that the AFU command would be able to combine prisoners with other soldiers in the future. Earlier, Ukrainian media outlets featured reports that the Ukrainian military was recruiting prisoners jailed for particularly serious crimes.
About 600 prisoners have left prisons and joined the AFU. At the moment, they were undergoing appropriate training, the minister added.
Recently, Ukrainian social media also circulated reports of empty Ukrainian cities, where men who fit the criticised mobilisation law avoided appearing on the streets in an attempt to escape the forced conscription.
