Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), write that Russia may use units made up of prisoners to control the population in occupied parts of Ukraine.

Analysts note that newly mobilized Russian battalions are more brutal to the population of the occupied territories than professional Russian soldiers or even conscripts who have received formal military training.

These units are worse trained and less professional. As ISW writes, these are the units the rf attracts to control the population of the occupied territories.

"Russian forces may increasingly use substandard, poorly trained units that, for example, consist of prisoners to control the population in the occupied parts of Ukraine," the report says.