Ukrainian military reports majority of Russian troops near Zaporizhzhia have criminal pasts

According to a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Operational Task Force South, 69% of the Russian force deployed around Zaporizhzhia have criminal records. The Ukrainian military’s internal review found that 31% signed up to avoid pending charges while 24% were motivated by economic need. Moscow has relied on generous enlistment bonuses to draw volunteers from disadvantaged areas, a strategy that also pulls in foreign combatants from the Global South and former inmates initially recruited by the Wagner mercenary group.

Special penal units still exist, but many regular troops now share some form of criminal history. Kyiv notes that despite stable recruitment rates, the influx of new Russian soldiers has not yielded significant battlefield gains in 2026. President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the Kremlin plans a new forced mobilization of 300,000 troops to reinforce offensives in Donetsk’s “fortress belt” and elsewhere, including Ukraine’s northern border.