Kiev has sent its first seven female prisoners into the army, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry said on Thursday. The women expressed their desire to join up in exchange for parole, a statement published on Facebook said.
The move was made possible by a law adopted by parliament and signed by Vladimir Zelensky in May. The legislation allows people convicted of certain crimes to volunteer for the army in exchange for parole. Their requests are then assessed by a military medical commission and a court.
“The law on the mobilization of convicts, approved by the Verkhovna Rada, provides for the opportunity not only for men, but also women to enter the army,” said Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Elena Vysotskaya.
The minister admitted that very few female convicts have expressed a desire to join the army so far. As of July 23, Ukrainian authorities had signed off on just seven such applications, she said. All the applicants were “put in contact” with the Ukrainian military, she added.
A total of 6,101 inmates have applied to join the armed forces in exchange for parole since the law was adopted in May, according to the ministry. More than 3,800 have already been released for service, the statement said.
Kiev is struggling to replenish its ranks after heavy losses suffered in battles against Russian forces. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine’s losses were five times higher than Moscow’s. The Ukrainian military was losing some 50,000 personnel a month, he said then.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Colonel General Aleksandr Syrsky, declined to give casualty figures in an interview with the Guardian this week. He called the level of losses a “sensitive” topic that could be exploited by Russia.
Kiev overhauled its national mobilization system this spring in a bid to tackle the shortage of military personnel. The reforms included lowering the draft age from 27 to 25, a significant tightening of mobilization rules, and harsher penalties for avoiding conscription.
Draft dodging has been a major problem for Kiev since it announced a general mobilization soon after the start of the conflict in February 2022. Some men are even willing to risk their lives to escape the country. In late May, the Ukrainian Border Guard reported that it had recovered the bodies of 45 people who had drowned while attempting to cross the Tisza river, which runs along the frontier with Hungary and Romania. In July, Ukrainian media reported that local doctors were offering leg-breaking services as “a unique opportunity to avoid mobilization.”
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