Separate units of released prisoners to appear in Ukrainian Armed Forces – justice minister

Separate units, the personnel of which will be formed from freed prisoners-volunteers, will appear in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In particular, they will be assigned to carry out assault operations on the front line, announced Justice Minister Denys Malyuska on national telethon.

As of now, these will be assault units, which so far consist exclusively of persons who were serving their sentences.

"That is, these are 'monolithic; units without mixing with other servicemembers," Malyuska said.

According to him, 613 prisoners have already left the prison and joined the Armed Forces. They undergo appropriate training. The minister also noted that all those who went out to defend Ukraine will receive "at least a few months of training."

Malyuska added that in the future, based on the experience of using units made up of convicts in combat, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine may decide to merge them with other army units.

On May 10, the Ministry of Justice announced that Ukraine is able to recruit 10,000-20,000 prisoners and people with criminal records to the Armed Forces.

On May 17, on the eve of the entry into force of the law on mobilization, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the bill on the voluntary mobilization of convicts into law.