Bohdan Filonenko, 32, a former car thief and a former Ukrainian prisoner who signed up under a new law granting them amnesty in exchange for army service. Photo:Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Reuters

Former car thief Bohdan Filonenko had a simple answer for his cellmates who criticized his decision to join the Ukrainian army. “I’m not going to die,” he recalls saying. “I’m going to serve and change my life.”

Filonenko, 32, is one of thousands of Ukrainian prisoners who have signed up for military service under a new law granting them amnesty in exchange for military service.

Kyiv is struggling to muster enough troops to repel Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which is now in its 30th month and shows no signs of ending. In addition to changing the draft system, the authorities are also enlisting prisoners such as Filonenko, who is currently training as part of the 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade, to strengthen their ranks with motivated people.

Filonenko and others with whom Reuters spoke during training in the north-east of the Kharkiv region immediately agreed to the opportunity to fight. Pavlo, who gave only his first name, was due to serve another year for the attack, but signed up the day after the new law was introduced in May. Those convicted of certain crimes, such as capital murder and sex crimes, are ineligible for service.

Filonenko noted that he was motivated after reports of mass killings of civilians during Russia’s occupation of two Kyiv suburbs at the beginning of the war.

Holding a machine gun in the ruins of a building on the training ground, the recidivist beamed with pride as he recalled his mother’s shock. She did not believe that he would be able to leave prison to join the army. “When I finally called her and sent some photos, then my mother felt better,” Filonenko said.

Source: Reuters