Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday approved a bill that will allow some convicts to serve in the military in exchange for the possibility of parole upon completion of their service, a measure aimed at replenishing the army’s depleted ranks after more than two years of war.
The bill must still be signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelensky. It was not immediately clear whether he would do so, given the sensitivity of the matter.
The policy echoes a practice used by Russia, which has sent tens of thousands of convicts to war, allowing it to gain the advantage in bloody attacks by sheer numerical strength. While Russia has enlisted all types of prisoners, the Ukrainian bill says those convicted of premeditated murder, rape or other serious crimes will not be eligible, although some lawmakers said convictions for involuntary manslaughter could be considered.
Olena Shulyak, leader of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, said the decision to mobilize and parole a prisoner would be made by a court and would require the prisoner’s willingness to join the military.
“The only way to survive in an all-out war against an enemy with more resources is to consolidate all forces,” Shulyak wrote in a social media post. “This bill is about our struggle and the preservation of the Ukrainian state.”
Prisoners serving in the army would be integrated into special units for the duration of martial law, meaning they would not be demobilized until the end of the war. Ms Shulyak also told a Ukrainian media outlet that only prisoners with less than three years left on their sentences would be eligible.
The bill is the latest in a series of recent efforts (including a bill enacted last month that lowered the draft eligibility age from 27 to 25) by Ukraine’s government to bolster its depleted and diminished troops.
Zelensky said in February that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the full-scale invasion of Russia began more than two years ago. The figure is far below estimates by US officials, who last summer said nearly 70,000 Ukrainians had been killed.
As the war drags on, Ukraine struggles to recruit or conscript more people into its army. Critics say the official mobilization system has been mired in Soviet-style bureaucracy and corruption, and cases of draft evasion have multiplied in recent months. Gen. Yurii Sodol, commander of forces in the east, told parliament last month that in certain sections of the front, Russians outnumber Ukrainians by more than seven to one.
The bill passed Wednesday was designed to help resolve troop shortages, according to several lawmakers. David Arakhamia, leader of Zelensky’s party in parliament, said it could result in the mobilization of between 15,000 and 20,000 prisoners, according to Ukrainian media.
Legislators voted overwhelmingly in favor: 279 voted in favor, 11 abstained and none voted against.
“We need people in the trenches,” Oleksiy Honcharenko, a member of Parliament from the opposition European Solidarity party, said in a telephone interview after the vote. “Why should businessmen and artists fight and not thieves and petty criminals?”
Both the Soviet Union and Germany also recruited prisoners during World War II, according to Thibault Fouillet, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic and Defense Studies, a French research center.
“This is a traditional practice in times of war, both in major wars and in civil or revolutionary wars,” Fouillet said. “However, these are often temporary measures and operations carried out when there is a labor shortage.”
But the decision to allow prisoners to serve in the Ukrainian military could prove controversial. And Zelensky – who in the past has delayed for months signing sensitive bills, such as one lowering the draft age – might be reluctant to back it, said Oleksandr Musiienko, director of the kyiv-based Center for Military Legal Studies.
“There is still a lot of debate ahead before the bill becomes law,” Musiienko said.