Allowing Ukrainian convicts to serve in the military came a step closer on Wednesday as lawmakers approved a first reading of a bill designed to help replenish and rotate troops exhausted after two years of war with Russia.
\nThe bill envisages prisoners who join the army becoming eligible for parole.
\nThose convicted of crimes against humanity, sexual violence, murder or crimes against national security would not be allowed to serve, lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said on Telegram.
\nA separate bill setting out large fines for citizens who fail to abide by mobilisation rules was also passed at the first reading.
\nIt is not clear how many extra personnel would be eligible to join the military if the steps become law.
\nThe convicts bill is likely to see changes before the final reading, in order to eliminate the risk of corruption, another lawmaker, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, said. No date has been set for the final reading after it is further discussed by a committee of lawmakers.
\nKyiv troops have been fighting against the better equipped Russian military, with vast mobilisation potential, since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
\nUkraine\u2019s parliament has also started reviewing the final reading of a complex bill amending the army mobilisation process after months of criticism and discussions, with a vote on that expected on Thursday.
\nIt is expected to widen Kyiv\u2019s capability to call up new servicemen amid significantly fewer volunteer fighters and numerous cases of draft evasion as the war has dragged on.
\n(Reuters)military personnel. Ukrainian convicts, military, parole<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ukrainian lawmakers approved a bill allowing convicts to serve in the military to replenish troops exhausted from the war with Russia. Those convicted of serious crimes would not be eligible. Another bill imposing fines for failing to follow mobilisation rules was also passed. The number of additional military personnel that could join if the bills become law is unclear. Lawmakers are working to prevent corruption in the convicts bill. The final readings of the bills are still pending, with a vote expected soon. Ukraine’s parliament is also amending the army mobilisation process to increase its capability to call up new servicemen due to a lack of volunteers and draft evasion during the ongoing war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[652,3492,1240,5702,5858,295,3635,4758,2515,1594,1823,296,5679,3504,183,1874,1799,5860,4054,19,827,4441,5441,17,1180,5859,134,1774,293,18],"class_list":["post-7640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-army","tag-bill","tag-clear","tag-committee","tag-convicts","tag-corruption","tag-crimes","tag-criticism","tag-february","tag-fines","tag-increase","tag-kyiv","tag-law","tag-military","tag-murder","tag-national-security","tag-parliament","tag-parole","tag-risk","tag-russia","tag-security","tag-service","tag-sexual-violence","tag-ukraine","tag-ukrainian","tag-ukrainian-convicts","tag-violence","tag-vote","tag-war","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n