We Spent a Day With Ukraine’s Ex-Inmate Soldiers: Here’s What We Saw

We spent a day inside one of Ukraine’s most unusual military units — a special-operations group made up of early-released volunteer soldiers who chose the battlefield over their past.

At their hidden forest camp, they train, rebuild vehicles, fly FPV drones, and learn to hold the line together.

“Off training, they’re different. They joke, they talk, they drink tea. You see real people here,” one of the instructors told us.

Some of these men had never held a weapon before the war. Now, they defend their country shoulder to shoulder.