KYIV, July 1 – Ukraine is expanding the draft to cope with acute battlefield shortages more than two years into fighting against Russia’s full-scale invasion. And its recruiting efforts have turned, for the first time, to the country’s prison population, The Associated Press reported.

Although Ukraine does not announce any details of troop deployment numbers or casualties, frontline commanders openly acknowledge that they are facing serious manpower problems as Russian continues to build up forces in eastern Ukraine and make incremental gains westward.

More than 3,000 prisoners already have been released on parole and assigned to military units after such recruitment was approved by parliament in a controversial mobilization bill last month, Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska told The Associated Press.

About 27,000 inmates could potentially be eligible for the new program, according to Justice Ministry estimates.

“A lot of the motivation comes from (inmates) wanting to return home a hero, and not to return home from prison,” Vysotska said.

Ernest Volvach, 27, wants to take up the offer. He’s serving a two-year sentence for robbery, at the penal colony in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region. He works in the kitchen, ladling dollops of food into tin bowls.

“It’s stupid to sit here doing nothing,” Volvach said, adding that since the start of the war he’s wanted to “do something for Ukraine” and have the opportunity to enlist. “Now it’s appeared.”

Prisoners can get the conditional release after an interview, medical exam, and a review of their conviction. Those convicted of rape, sexual assault, murdering two or more people or crimes against Ukraine’s national security aren’t eligible.

Ukrainian officials are keen to draw a distinction between their program and recruitment in Russia of convicts to serve in the notorious Wagner mercenary group. Those fighters typically have been funneled to the deadliest battles, the officials say, but the Ukrainian program aims to integrate the inmates into regular Ukrainian frontline units.

The country has a prison population of some 42,000, according to figures forwarded by the government to the European Union.

Vysotska, the deputy justice minister, said interest in the military parole program has exceeded early expectations, and that it could provide as many as 5,000 new recruits. “That would definitely help,” she said. (ap/ez)