“I’m not going to die,” he remembers telling them. “I’m going to serve and change my life.”
Filonenko, 32, is one of thousands of Ukrainian prisoners who have enlisted under a new law granting them amnesty in exchange for military service.
kyiv is struggling to recruit enough troops to repel Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which is in its 30th month and shows no signs of ending.
In addition to overhauling the conscription system, authorities have also called on inmates like Filonenko, who now trains in the 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade, to bolster their ranks with motivated men.
Filonenko and others interviewed by Reuters at a training session in the northeastern Kharkiv region said they had jumped at the chance to fight.
Pavlo, who gave only his first name, had a year left in prison for assault, but he signed up the day after the new law came into effect in May.
“Why should foreigners come to my country and destroy my land?” asks the steely-eyed 46-year-old squad leader, already injured in the leg after a Russian drone dropped an explosive near his home.
Under the new rules, prisoners will be able to have their remaining sentences cancelled if they agree to serve their time without permission until the end of the war. They will then be eligible for parole.
More than 3,000 former detainees have joined various military units, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced earlier this month. Justice Minister Denys Maliuska had said in May that up to 20,000 of them could be eligible.
People convicted of certain offenses, such as murder of two or more people and sex crimes, are not allowed to serve.
Filonenko said he felt motivated after hearing about the civilians massacred after Russia occupied two kyiv suburbs early in the war.
Inside an empty building on the training ground, the repeat offender, holding his automatic rifle, smiled as he recalled his mother’s pride. He said she didn’t believe he would be able to leave prison to enlist.
“When I finally called her and sent her some pictures, it lightened up Mom’s soul.”
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