Russian penal military units during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia has recruited substantial numbers of prisoners into military units. The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine has claimed that Russia has recruited between 140,000 and 180,000 convicts to fight Ukraine.

The Russian paramilitary Wagner Group widely recruited from prisons starting in 2022, growing their forces by an estimated 40,000. According to the New York Times, Wagner's prison recruitment campaign began in early July 2022, when Prigozhin personally appeared in prisons around St. Petersburg and offered deals to the prisoners. However, the Wagner Group lost access to the prisons in February 2023 amidst schisms with the regular Russian Ministry of Defense. The Russian MoD itself reportedly began recruiting prisoners in October 2022.

In April 2023, information emerged about the creation of the Storm-Z series of units by the MoD. After receiving only ten to fifteen days of training, these units are attached to regular Russian forces suffering from battle fatigue. On June 24, 2023, Vladimir Putin signed a law on the recruitment of convicts to contract service with the Defense Ministry, disbanding Storm-Z and replacing it with the new Storm-V units.