Ukraine to allow some prisoners to enter army, as Kyiv focuses on finding needed recruits

Could Ukraine really look to its prisons to field thousands of new recruits for its war with Russia?

It's a possibility, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyysigned legislationlast week allowing certain convictsto enlist.Several thousand prisoners are now askingto belet intothe army,according to Ukraine's deputy justice minister, OlenaVysotska.

As the war grinds intoitsthirdyear, Ukraine has struggled to find the additional soldiers it needs. To get more people in uniform, the governmenthas lowered its draft age, increased fines for draft dodgers and reminded Ukrainian men abroad oftheir obligations.

But thedecision to allow convictsexcluding those involved in particularserious crimes to join the army is an indication that Kyivis willing to cast a wider netto meet its wartime personnel needs.How far that will go in boosting its ranks remains to be seen.

"The army of Ukraine is facing an increasingly acute problem of personnel shortages, and the involvement of prisoners can slightly reduce the acuteness of this problem," Andrii Kharuk, a Ukrainian military historian, said via email.

Russia's approach

Ukraine's need for soldiers comes amid ongoing Russian attacks on the northeastern Kharkiv region, a situation that has commanded Kyiv's attention in recent weeks and necessitatedsending reinforcements. Regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubovsaid Friday that authoritieshave evacuatedmore than 11,000 peoplesince the Russian attacks started on May 10.

The motivations for Russia's actions in the northeast have several possible explanations: Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed Moscow wantsto create a buffer zone, while some analysts suggestRussia's Kharkiv actions may be intended to divertfocus from other parts of the front line.

Russia has a population more thanthree times that of Ukraine,providingan advantage in numbers when it comes to drafting potential soldiers. Yet it hasalso been sendingRussian prisoners toUkraine for much of the all-out invasion.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late founder of the paramilitary Wagner Group,made headlines in 2022when video surfacedshowing him making a direct appeal to inmates to earn their freedom by fighting in Ukraine. He claimedto haverecruited tens of thousands ofmen from Russian prisons.

Russiacontinuesto send convicts into battle, though somereports suggest Moscow has dialled backthe terms offered to those whoserve. Ithas also seen headline-making incidents of violence on its side of the border,involvingprisoners-turned-soldiers who returned home after servingin Ukraine.

A change for Ukraine

Kharuk, the military historian,said Kyiv had its reasons for not looking to prison populations for potential recruitsearlier in the conflict.

"In my opinion, at the beginning of the war, Ukraine failed to mobilize prisoners for ethical reasons," said Kharuk, who is also ahumanities professor at Hetman PetroSahaidachnyiNational Army Academy in Lviv, Ukraine.

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"Against the background of the mass recruitment of prisoners into the Russian army, it was important to demonstrate that Ukraine interprets service in the army as an honourable duty of a citizen, and not as a way to avoid punishment for criminal penalties."

Kyiv officials sayroughly 20,000 prisoners could be eligible to pursue this route to military service, though only a fraction are expected to do so.

Two of the earliest men cleared to fightare convicted thieves who were ordered released for this purpose, Agence France-Presse reported this week. A further 50 prisoners were released so they could join the army, the Kyiv Independentreported Friday.

The British experience from long ago

A century before the current war in Ukraine, there was another land war in Europe that demanded ever-more troops be sent into the fray.

That was the First World War, a conflict that claimed millions of lives, including those of880,000 British forces.

Britain would end up sending convicts into the fight as the war progressed, just as Ukraine is considering today.

Cameron McKay has studied this history closely and written about how Britain came to understand it would needto source a lot more men to fight than were available at the war's outset.

"Manpower shortages were certainly a determinant in allowing criminals to enlist," McKay, a historian, explained via email.

"At the beginning of the war, defendants who offered to enlist rather than be sent to prison were usually told no. However, as the war progressed, defendants were increasingly allowed to enlist."

According to his research, decision-makers in Britainsaw various advantages in letting prisoners serve in the army. These included military service being viewed "as an opportunity for redemption, whilst also reducing the prison population," McKay said.

Unlike the situation in modern Ukraine, however, Britain allowed violent offenders to enlist.

Some of the arguments made against their enlistment revolvedaround possible resentment from fellow soldiers.

"It was also widely believed at the time that criminals lacked the selflessness needed for military service, although their readiness to enlist proved otherwise,"McKaysaid.

Pressures on Kyiv

Oxana Shevel, an associate professor of political scienceat Boston's Tufts University, said the unpredictable nature of the war creates challenges for a government in Kyiv that must decide who must join the fight.

Shevel notes that the action of "conscripting a lot of people who may not want to be conscripted is nota super popular move," however necessary it may be for Kyiv's war effort.There are also unresolvedissues about so-called demobilization, as some of Ukraine's soldiershave been on the front line for two-plus years, with no end in sight to their military service.

The Ukrainian-born Sheveldoes not see Kyiv's decision to allow prisoners into the militaryas particularlycontroversial, given that those convicted of serious crimes are excluded from service. And it's asking them to take on the same risks as anyone else helping to defend Ukraine.

More generally, Shevelsaid political leaders in Kyiv have had to make ongoinghard choicesabout who to call up to the military, while balancing other considerations, such as the demographic and economic impacts that conscription poses.

But she said they've also been clear about why they can't avoid making those decisions, either, given the costs of failing to stop Russia.

"The invading army is not going to care about anybody's human rights,"Shevelsaid.