SYNOPSIS
Five years after the start of the war, Ukraine is facing a shortage of soldiers on the front line. The army is struggling to recruit. Conscription and the methods used to attract new recruits have become a contentious issue within society. Men are fleeing the country to avoid conscription. To address the shortage of soldiers, a law passed in 2024 allows Ukrainian prisoners to be granted early parole if they decide to enlist. The country is giving them a choice: prison or war. By September 2026, 12,000 prisoners had already chosen to enlist.
Edward Kaprov set out to document what happens where the law ends and reality begins. He travelled to the east of Kharkiv to follow a special assault unit from the 129th Brigade, made up entirely of prisoners. He followed a group of ten men from their release from prison to the front line, via a 21-day crash course.
Photographer and filmmaker Edward Kaprov was born in Russia and migrated to Israel in the early 1990s. For more than twenty years, he has been practising documentary photography and collaborating with National Geographic, Geo and El País, among others. His work speaks of the shattered ideals of his adopted country and his motherland... His reports seek to illustrate the inhumanity and absurdity of the world, documenting in particular the Israeli army, Palestinian demonstrations and orphanages in Chechnya.
DIRECTOR
CREDITS
Director : Edward Kaprov
Written by Edward Kaprov
DOP : Edward Kaprov
Editing : Edward Kaprov, Khalid Mamoun and
Emanuel Baert
Produced by : ARTE G.E.I.E. – Lila Production
International seller : ARTE Distribution
FOLLOW US
© 2025. All rights reserved.