Even prisoners at war for Ukraine. Kiev needs soldiers in the crucial phase of the war against Russia and is also preparing to deploy prisoners to the front. The Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, has approved at second reading a bill which provides for the voluntary mobilization of certain categories of prisoners. In Russia, a similar measure with fewer restrictive criteria has been in force for some time.
Those convicted of crimes of intentional homicide, rape, pedophilia, as well as corrupt officials are excluded from the Ukrainian mobilization.those who have committed crimes against national security as well as those who have held positions of particular responsibility such as deputies and ministers.
Persons convicted of illegal production, purchase, distribution or possession of drugs will also not be able to serve in the armed forces, while the condition that they must not yet serve more than three years of their sentence applies to all other prisoners.
The law, which is not yet in force, is part of Kiev’s strategy to increase the number of soldiers at the front at a key moment in the conflict. Ukraine is waiting to receive all the weapons that the US will supply after Congress gives the green light to the latest 61 billion dollar package.
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The new aid will be crucial in countering Russia’s announced offensive which, according to experts and analysts, should seek a push between the end of spring and the beginning of summer. Moscow’s forces are pushing to conquer Chasiv Yar, a stronghold in Donetsk, which can become the springboard for heading west. Ukraine, as the military leaders have admitted, must fall back to avoid unnecessary losses: it is better to cede territories than lives at this moment. In the short term, however, we need to shore up the front.
And Ukraine is preparing to send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the front lines after the passage of the controversial mobilization bill. It is estimated that there will be hundreds of thousands of reinforcements, mostly men aged 25-26, eligible to be drafted for the first time. They will soon take the field alongside those who are already fighting Russian military aggression, based on the law signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Lower numbers than the 500 thousand that former commander in chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi had asked for, but probably less free to abandon their weapons. In fact, the clause initially foreseen according to which it was possible to leave the army after 36 months has been removed.
Zelensky had already signed some provisions into law, such as lowering the age for military conscription male from 27 to 25 years. But starting from the age of 18 it will be possible to enlist as volunteers, even if not on the front line, while the maximum age of 60 remains unchanged.
The mobilization should allow Ukraine to partially reduce the evident gap in resources, human and otherwise, compared to Russia. Moscow has practically unlimited spare parts and can afford wave attacks, regardless of losses. Recently, President Vladimir Putin signed the decree on the spring draft for military service in Russia.
The document provides for the enlistment of “Russian citizens aged between 18 and 30, not in reserve and eligible for conscription, between April 1 and July 15, 2024, in a number of 150,000 people”. The decree also provides for the discharge of soldiers, sailors, sergeants and non-commissioned officers whose military service has expired. The new recruits are not destined to reinforce the Russian army in a very short time, but they are a further sign that the war machine is functioning at full capacity.
