All Ukrainian convicts with combat experience will be released to help fight Russians who have invaded the country, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday. 

In a video address, Zelenskyy said the decision was “not easy from the moral point of view”, but was justified from the nation’s defense standpoint.

Calling on Russian soldiers to lay down their weapons, the 44-year-old leader said, “Abandon your equipment. Get out of here. Don’t believe your commanders. Don’t believe your propagandists. Just save your lives.”

Zelenskyy urged the EU to grant Ukraine membership “via a new special procedure.”

“We appeal to the European Union for the immediate accession of Ukraine via a new special procedure. Our goal is to be together with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be on an equal footing,” Zelensky said.

“I’m sure it is fair. I’m sure it is possible.”

He also thanked the West for its support, saying: “Support of our anti-war coalition is unconditional and unprecedented.”

“Each of us is a warrior. And I am sure that each of us will win.”

On the other hand, Russia, which moved its troops into Ukraine last week, said on Monday that it had hit 1,146 military installations in Ukraine since February 24.   

“31 command posts and communication centers, 81 S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as 75 radar stations [were hit]. Operationally, tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit six columns of armored vehicles of the Ukrainian armed forces,” Major General Igor Konashenkov, the spokesperson for Russian Ministry of Defence, said in a statement while giving out details about the targets. 

“[Additionally], 311 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 42 aircraft and helicopters (including on the ground), 51 multiple launch rocket systems, 147 field artillery pieces and mortars, 263 units of special military vehicles were destroyed,” the Major General further said.