Mikhail Popkov, the serial killer who volunteer to fight in Putin's war against Ukraine

The man behind bars in the image is serving a double life sentence in a Russian jail for murdering and assaulting 83 women between 1992 and 2007. His name is Mikhail Popkov, and according to the Daily Mail, he intends to enlist and fight in Putin's war against Ukraine.

Nicknamed 'The Werewolf,' Popkov committed all of his crimes in the isolated region of Siberia, located in eastern Russia. According to a police source, cited by The Daily Mail, his true toll could be closer to 200 victims.

Mikhail Popkov exerted enormous violence on his victims, whom he assaulted and murdered with hammers, axes, and shovels. However, he presented a respectable image in his daily life.

Popkov was a police officer and then worked for a private security company. He was a husband and a father. This image helped him elude the police for more than a decade.

According to The Guardian, Popkov's body count made him Russia's worst serial killer in the last century. He underwent psychological evaluations and was diagnosed with homicidal mania but was declared sane.

Popkov lured women to his car using his police uniform to give them a false sense of security and then drove them to the forest, where he killed them and dropped the bodies. According to The Guardian, when the bodies were discovered, he sometimes returned to the crime scene as a police officer.

According to The Guardian, Popkov called himself a "cleaner" in court. He claimed he was punishing the women for immoral behavior. In a 2015 interview, he said: "They left their husbands and children at home and went out [drinking] as if for the last time."

Despite his infamous position as the worst killer, Russian state television authorized an interview with Popkov. According to the Daily Mail, he told the interviewer that his dream was to join the army.

Popkov also claimed he had radio-electronics experience as a Red Army conscript, reported the Daily Mail. He suggested his skills would be helpful in the war. "Even though I've been in prison for ten years, I don't think it would be so hard to learn [new skills] quickly," he said.

Popkov showed mild regret for his actions but no remorse in that interview. "I have a lot to regret. None of this would have happened if I had not done those things," the 58-year-old said. "It is a natural desire of any person to regret. I have had a lot of time to think."

If Mikhail Popkov was nine years younger, he could fulfil his dream. The Wagner paramilitary group offers prisoners under 50 a chance to go to the front. According to The New York Times, a few of these convicts have been pardoned after a period of combat.

Russia Behind Bars estimates that around 35,000 Russian prisoners could have joined the mercenary group that supported Putin's invasion of Ukraine. That number would represent about 10% of the incarcerated population.

The New York Times claims that Russian human rights groups said the move highlights the Kremlin’s extralegal use of prisoners to replenish its decimated military. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the militia, is in charge of recruiting.

Prisoner rights organization Russia Behind Bars said that the legal mechanism behind the pardons was not precise, The New York Times added. Those unlawful pardons would be added to "a long list of legal violations in Prigozhin's drive."

Under the Russian Constitution, only the president can pardon a prisoner, The New York Times explains. The Kremlin did not publish any pardon decrees or make an official declaration about Prigozhin's claims.

The Wagner Group is known for its ruthless operations, including using prisoners as cannon fodder, summary executions, and brutal discipline.

Essentially, Mikhail Popkov is asking to be released to kill again. Prigozhin's words can easily describe the logic behind the system to prisoners in a video for the state television: "Don't drink too much, don't take drugs, don't rape women," he told a group of now free men.