UKRAINE – Lurking in the bushes near Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine is a unit of men who have two things in common: The short amount of time they have served defending their nation and time spent behind bars.

The 15 infantry men of the 59th Brigade, part of the Shkval – or wind gust – battalion are former prisoners. Convicted of a variety of crimes, they see their service in defense of Ukraine as redemption and a chance at a new life without a criminal record.

The catch for prisoners is that they are contracted to the military until the end of the war. There is also a considerable financial incentive: Wages range from $500 to $4,000 per month, depending on time spent on the front line, according to the Ukrainian defense ministry. CNN was granted exclusive access to these recently recruited prisoners last week, near the crucial Donbas town of Pokrovsk. The city has become a focal point in recent weeks as part of the nearly 600-mile line of contact that is desperately short of men, ammunition and ever encroaching better supplied and vast Russian forces.

Among the recruits is Vitaly, 41, a recovered addict and a father-of-five. He asked to be identified by first name only for security reasons. Vitaly told CNN that he had served 10 years in prison for four different crimes, most recently for grievous bodily harm. Perched on a tree stump, Vitaly mumbles: “My life was crazy. I grew up with bandits, as did all of our guys (in the unit).” But by joining the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he saw an opportunity. “I need to turn the page of my life. My life was a mess. It’s better to be useful here, to be around brothers … and a completely different social circle,” he said. He’s been in the trenches for three months following a short, 21-day training period. Vitaly has no regrets about his choice to join the army, but he said he was naive about what to expect. “Life is hard here, it’s fun … but I didn’t think it would be this hard,” he said. (CNN)…[+]