(Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian lawmakers plan to consider a bill that would allow prison inmates to join the war effort as the nation seeks ways to bolster manpower on the front lines after recent Russian advances. 

“There are motivated and patriotically minded citizens who are ready to atone for their guilt before society on the battlefield,” legislators said in comments published alongside a draft law on the parliament’s website Friday.

The bill, submitted by several lawmakers mostly representing President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party, would amend the country’s penal code to allow inmates to get parole for signing contracts with the military. The measure would also provide for punishment if a convict commits new crimes or evades military service after receiving parole. 

Ukrainian leadership is looking for politically palatable options to replenish troops, strained by the deficit of ammunition and people as Russia presses its newfound momentum along the 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) front line. Last year, the country’s military failed to persuade Zelenskiy to mobilize as many as 500,000 additional servicemen. Instead, he swapped his army commanders in a bid to optimize operations and logistics to stave off turning to the broader population for new recruits.

Russia has been tapping its vast penal-colony system to recruit convicts for the fight since early in the war. Criminals made up a significant part of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which took part in fighting in Ukraine alongside the military’s troops. Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed to have deployed 50,000 convicts on the battlefield before his death.

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Another draft law, submitted by Oleksiy Honcharenko, a lawmaker critical of Zelenskiy’s policies, would implement a sweeping amnesty for convicts volunteering for battle duty. A draft of Honcharenko’s bill justifies such a move as both helping the military and providing relief for the country’s strained penitentiary system. 

There is no clear deadline for the drafts to be voted on by the legislature in Kyiv, which works amid regular disruptions from air raid alarms and political bickering. A comprehensive bill to enact a countrywide mobilization remains mired in parliamentary debate due to the unpopular decisions facing lawmakers manifested by hundreds of suggested amendments, drawing out the process.

--With assistance from Olesia Safronova.

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