Now apparently, when Ukraine does it, it's some kind of liberating, transformative experience.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/22/ukrainian-convicts-recruited-fight-war

I’m a person again’: the Ukrainian convicts recruited to fight the war

Kyiv has freed 3,800 prisoners early to plug gaps in its army as military outfits compete to attract suitable convicts

Where did these gaps come from? What caused them? Why do you need almost four thousand convicts to fill them? That's a lot of gaps...

and then, this tops almost anything I've seen in the fraudian for delusional attempts at putting lipstick on pigs, the caption to the photograph of three ex-cons in fairly shabby looking military gear:


The recruits’ new home is a leafy outdoor camp, hidden beneath camouflage netting and shady trees. Nearby are meadows of wild flowers with butterflies and sunflowers. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian


That sounds like the fairy tale told to young kids when their favourite dog had to be put down; he's gone to live in a meadow with the other dogs and sits under a nice shady tree by a river.

Then there's plenty of time to rubbish the Russians and try to make out how different this is from what those evil Russians do:


Russia began recruiting for the military from prisoners in 2022, so far signing up about 100,000 people. Many joined the Wagner mercenary group. Its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died last year when his plane crashed after a failed rebellion against Russia’s then defence minister, Sergei Shoigu. A large number of Russian ex-prisoners have been killed, with dozens dying daily in the grinding year-long battle to seize the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Oleksii Dukh, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian battalion, said his country would not employ Russia’s bloody tactics with its own prison volunteers. “They don’t try and preserve lives. They use their guys like meat,” he said of Moscow. He described the new recruits as “pretty good” and said their motivation levels were reminiscent of the upbeat mood in spring 2022, when thousands of patriotic young men queued up outside army recruitment centres.

Astonishing drivel and hypocrisy.