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Ukraine is releasing prisoners with combat military backgrounds so that they can join the war against Russia.
News of this unprecedented move was first reported by Russian state-owned propaganda channel RT, supposedly quoting an official in Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office on Sunday, Feb. 27.
The news was not widely reported as it could be construed as Russian misinformation to obfuscate events on the ground.
Official and true
However, it appears the decision to allow inmates to take up arms to fight for Ukraine and be pardoned is real.
A defence reporter with The Kyiv Independent, a Ukrainian publication, tweeted about the plan on Feb. 28.
This was followed shortly after with a tweet by the official Kyiv Independent Twitter account.
The tweet quoted Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky who reportedly said it was a difficult moral choice but that it was necessary for the country’s defence.
He said the the prisoners will be fighting in the hottest spots: “The key is defense now.”
Immediate details were not readily available.
Some of those released include hardened murderers
But according to RT news from a day ago, the service record, combat experience, and repentance are among factors considered in each individual case of inmates being allowed to take up arms at the frontlines and effectively commute their sentence.
Andriy Sinyuk, a prosecutor at the prosecutor general’s office in Ukraine said on TV on Sunday, as reported by RT: “It’s a complicated issue decided at the highest level.”
Sinyuk also reportedly gave the example of one person, Sergey Torbin, a former combat veteran, who was one of the inmates released.
Torbin previously fought in the conflict with the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic -- territories that Russia recently unilaterally recognised as independent.
He was jailed for six years and six months in 2018 for his role in the murder of civil rights activist and anti-corruption campaigner Kateryna Handziuk, RT reported.
Handziuk was doused with acid in July 2018 on a street outside her home and died in the hospital with severe burns later that year.
Sinyuk said Torbin handpicked former inmates for his squad after his early release.
Another ex-serviceman, Dmitry Balabukha, sentenced to nine years' jail for stabbing a man to death at a bus stop after an argument in 2018, was also released, RT reported.
Implications
The immediate implications of freeing inmates to fight in a war for Ukraine are unknown, as they could both heightened and dampen popular support for the invaded.
It also signals the Ukrainian defence might need shoring up and not putting up as fierce a resistance as portrayed so far.
But going by social media reactions, the move has been cheered as another example of Ukraine doing everything in her power to fend off against the Russian aggressors.
Comparisons to the movie, The Suicide Squad, have been made, where inmates in the show are released and said to be dying to save the world.
Other major announcements
This news comes together with major announcements by the Ukrainian administration.
Zelensky has requested for immediate European Union membership, which would infuriate Moscow further.
He has also told Russian troops to lay down arms and desert the military as Ukrainian and Russian delegations were set to hold talks on Moscow's invasion.
Top photos via Alec Luhn Twitter
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