Ukraine Reportedly Releasing Prisoners With Combat Experience to Fight Russia

Suicide Squad might just be coming to reality in the Russia-Ukraine war. Except they won’t be Harley Quinn, Deadshot or The Joker.

Instead, real Ukrainian criminals with combat military backgrounds will be seeing daylight soon as they are released from prison to aid in the ongoing war against Russia.

News Confirmed to Be True

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.

The news was not widely reported as it could be construed as Russian misinformation to obfuscate events on the ground.

However, it seems like the decision to allow inmates to take up arms to fight for Ukraine and be pardoned is real.

A tweet by the official Kyiv Independent (a Ukrainian publication) Twitter account read:

⚡️Zelensky: Ukraine to release prisoners with combat experience.

Zelensky said it was a difficult moral choice but that it was necessary for the country’s defense. He said the the prisoners will be fighting in the hottest spots.

“The key is defense now.”

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 28, 2022

The tweet quoted Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky who reportedly said it was a difficult moral choice but that it was necessary for the country’s defence.

He also said the prisoners will be fighting in the hottest spots.

Those Released Include Murderers

While details are not available, some of those released include hardened murderers.

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 Sunday, “It’s a complicated issue decided at the highest level.”

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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.

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.

Forming up the squad will be former inmates handpicked by Torbin.

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 of This Decision

Releasing former inmates could both heighten and dampen popular support for Ukraine.

More importantly, it also shows that the Ukrainian defence might need shoring up and is not putting up as fierce a resistance as portrayed so far.

However, social media shows that the move has been cheered as another example of Ukraine doing everything in its power to fight against the Russian invasion.

While this is a risky decision for Ukraine, it may also prove to be a beneficial one.

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