The Soviets didn’t need to pressgang anyone because the nazis were slaughtering entire villages down to even babies. People were drafted, but they didn’t resist because it was a calling to defend their families from a genocidal entity.

Prisoners were offered pardons in exchange for service and they formed penal battalions. Military police were placed behind them to make sure they didn’t mutiny or desert. That’s about the closest you’ll find to what the Ukrainians are doing now.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the penal units were thrown back in prison after the war ended, something I think most communists would agree was wrong of Stalin to do. It led to the сучья Wars and later establishment of multiple organized crime groups. These crime groups would later contribute to the breakup of the USSR as they were easily recruited assets for the CIA and they had the cash to buy up everything after the collapse. Putin himself was in charge of the anti-organized crime division of the KGB, a position he used for personal gain.