Ukraine has started releasing prisoners to serve in its military, part of a broader effort to rebuild an army exhausted by more than two years of war and under pressure from brutal Russian attacks.
Denys Maliuska, Ukraine’s Justice Minister, said in an interview on Friday that nearly 350 prisoners have already been released under a law issued last week that allows convicts to serve in the army in exchange for the possibility of early release to the end of their service.
The country’s courts must approve each prisoner’s bid to enlist, and Maliuska said the judiciary has already processed most of the 4,300 requests submitted so far. Up to 20,000 such asylum seekers, including people in pre-trial detention, could be recruited to join the hundreds of thousands of soldiers already serving in the Ukrainian army, he said.
