Soldiers from "Tornado" returned to the front

While Russia is massively recruiting convicts to take part in the war against Ukraine, our country has decided to refuse such "support." The only exceptions were prisoners with actual combat experience. Today, about 400 ex-prisoners are fighting in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is less than one percent of the total number of convicts.

Among them were convicts from the Tornado.

Recall that the volunteer unit "Tornado" was created in the spring of 2014 under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It included fighters from the Shakhtersk battalion, disbanded due to massive evidence of looting in the ATO zone. But "Tornado" continued this "tradition." As a result, the unit was liquidated, and 12 people from it were under investigation.

They were charged with robbery, torture, kidnapping, and creating an illegal formation. Tornado commander Ruslan Onishchenko received 11 years in prison.

Today, all Tornado soldiers are at large, including their ex-commander, BBC news Ukraine reports. Three of them are already fighting at the front. Daniil Lyashuk (call sign "Mujahid") was wounded while delivering a Russian prisoner.

True, Onishchenko himself has not yet entered the combat zone. As he wrote on his Facebook, this is because "the prosecutor's office has lost all his documents."

In addition to the "tornadoes," other defendants in high-profile criminal cases were also released on the condition that they go to the front—for example, the killers of Kherson activist Kateryna Handziuk.