told the New York Times that he and other convicts were thrown onto the front line of Russia's war against Ukraine with no training and told to charge "as far as we could go" into Ukrainian gunfire. The Times reported that Aleksandr — and other prisoners like him who joined the Wagner Group in exchange for pardons — told The Times that they were essentially used as human sacrifices to advance the Russian position into Ukrainian-controlled areas. By other estimates, about 70% of soldiers are wounded or killed in battalions with former convicts, military analysts told the Times