Since his invasion of Ukraine, Putin has released tens of thousands of killers, rapists and thugs from prison on the condition they fight for him on the frontline as conscripts.

More than 1,000 Russian civilians have been killed by Vladimir Putin’s violent soldiers. The toll of shame includes fighters who go on drunken rampages while on leave from the war, or who murder in border regions close to where they are stationed.

Many who commit these crimes then serve no punishment because they are simply sent back to the frontline.

All that’s required for them to dodge jail at any stage – no matter how far into the investigation, trial or even after sentencing – is to put their body on the line in Ukraine once more.

The sickening toll of 1,045 cases – involving Russian servicemen accused of murder or fatal assault against the country’s own citizens – was uncovered by independent news outlet Mediazona, which combed court records.

The tally only covers those who were still soldiers when they offended – not ex-convicts from the Putin-backing Wagner private army or demobilised fighters tried in civilian courts. These killers swell the toll even higher though the exact number is unknown.

Among the appalling crimes against civilians committed by Putin’s thuggish fighters include Tsyren-Dorzhi Tsyrenzhapov, who was recruited to war in Ukraine from jail where he was serving a 14-year sentence for murder, killed a woman, 22, in an argument, and later dismembered her body.

Alexei Nakvakin, a mobilised serviceman, killed a woman with a Kalashnikov during an argument. She did not approve of the war in Ukraine.

Ex-convict Ivan Rossomakhin, 28, returned from the war to his home village in Kirov region and killed his neighbour Yulia Buiskykh, 85, at her home, it was alleged.

Volunteer fighter Alexander Mamayev, 44, stabbed his wife Ekaterina to death in front of their children on a break from fighting in Ukraine.

Putin mercenary Demyan Kevorkyan, 31, and accomplices killed two, it is alleged.

Vasily Murachev, 33, a mercenary with an extensive criminal history, shot dead one person and wounded another in a cafe in Angarsk, Irkutsk region.

Igor Sofonov, 38, a convict recruited to the Russian defence ministry’s Storm Z detachment killed six people with an accomplice, it was alleged.

Svetlana, 38, was brutally beaten by her boyfriend Sergei who fought in Ukraine from 2022. The woman slipped into coma and passed away in hospital a week after the beating.

Vladimir Vlasov, 31, a mercenary beat his stepdaughter Katia, four, to death, on his return from Ukraine.

The crimes committed by paroled convict-soldiers are having “severe effects at home”, according to Russian security affairs expert Mark Galeotti, reports ABC.