“The child studied on a UAV for three months, and we stormed him, into a meat grinder.”

Russian students go to war as drone operators - and die almost immediately. The BBC Russian Service told three such stories

At the beginning of 2023, teenagers in Russia were allowed to enter into military contracts immediately after their 18th birthday and without any restrictions . At the same time, educational institutions began to be visited en masse by “ Northern Military District veterans”, who encouraged schoolchildren and students to go to the front. And at the end of 2025, mass recruitment into unmanned troops began in technical schools and universities: students were promised that they would earn good money, would serve only for a year and away from the front (in fact, this is not true ). The BBC Russian Service told the stories of three students who went to serve in unmanned troops and died within a few months.

Vladislav Gorbunov, Bryansk region, 18 years old

Vladislav lived all his life in the town of Unecha in the Bryansk region. According to those close to him, the topic of war occupied him for many years. While still a minor, he ran the telegram channel “Militarists in Place,” in which he posted videos with the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and wrote in public chats about his desire to go to war. One of the messages was like this: “Everything *** [garbage] I’m waiting for the army and the contract so that I can die” (spelling and punctuation preserved).

Gorbunov studied at the Unechsky Technical School of Industrial Technologies and Transport with a degree in Railway Construction. In August 2025, he celebrated his 18th birthday, and in December he signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense. What exactly prompted him to do this is unknown. According to a classmate, he had problems with his studies. Brother Danat said that his relatives tried to dissuade him from recruiting for the front, but to no avail.

Vladislav signed a contract as a UAV operator, but first he was sent to an assault company. “It somehow turned out that stormtroopers were more needed. This question [why this happened] should be asked to the unit where he signed it [the contract],” said Vladislav’s brother.

Gorbunov’s friend Sergei said that he “miraculously survived” in the assault company. Only then was he transferred to the UAV operator division. Gorbunov died on April 6 “while performing a combat mission.” Danat refused to disclose the circumstances of his brother's death, but mentioned that the death certificate listed "loss of blood" as the cause. A little more than four months passed from the moment Gorbunov signed the contract until his death.

Valery Averin, Buryatia, 23 years old

Valery was a pupil of an orphanage in the Buryat village of Timlyuy. At the age of 11, he was taken in by the family of Oksana and Sergei Afanasyev. Oksana described her first meeting with her adopted son as follows: “Prickly was like all the children from the orphanage. He said: “Why is everyone walking and looking, but no one takes me?” When they left, he stuck to the glass doors and watched. There was silence on the road for a long time.”

Averin was a final year student at the Buryat Republican College of Construction and Industrial Technologies. He signed the contract in early January 2026 and told his family about it after the fact. “I really wanted to serve, but they didn’t take him into the army, they said he was mentally unstable or something. He deceived me and said that he went to earn money from Wildberries. When I found out that he signed the contract, I almost went crazy. I say: "What have you done? Where have you gone?" He said: “Nothing will happen to me, everything will be fine, don’t worry,” said the adoptive mother.

At the end of March, Valery called her and told her that he had finished his “training” and was leaving for the front. And on April 8, she learned of his death. “The child studied on a UAV for three months, and we stormed him, into a meat grinder, the one who did not serve in the army,” Afanasyeva complained. However, she does not know the specific circumstances of her son’s death. She was only told that he had died in a mortar attack.

The BBC first told Averin's story in May 2026. At that time, this was the first known case of death at the front of a student who became a UAV operator amid mass recruitment in educational institutions. However, then the BBC found a student who, as it turned out, had died at the front even earlier.

Rahim Abdullin, Bashkortostan, 18 years old

Rahim, back in the ninth grade, said that he was ready to go to war. “Just when all this [the war] began, around the same time he began to say that he had a desire to go there [to the front] to protect, so that Russia would be safe. He said: if they had allowed it, at the age of 16, roughly speaking, I would have gone,” said his mother Elena. She says she scolded her son for having such thoughts, but did not take them seriously enough - and now she regrets it.

Abdullin studied at the Kumertau Mining College to become a welder. His studies were not going well. In December 2025, he turned 18 years old, and already in early January he signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense. He told his mother about this two days before he was sent to the military unit. Rahim later said that he was offered to do military service first, but he refused. He was determined to go “specifically to the Northern Military District ,” Elena believes.

Rahim decided to become a UAV operator, also because he considered it safer. It quickly became clear that he was wrong. “[It turned out] they see stormtroopers too. And they are on the front line,” said Elena. According to her, another surprise for her son was that he was given a faulty machine gun and old uniform, so she and her colleagues had to chip in “for the needs of the military operation” from their own money.

A friend of Abdullin anonymously told the BBC that, unlike his mother, he had never heard him talk about patriotism. According to him, in mid-January, Rahim wrote to him the following: “Do you know where I can raise money? SVO . The state will also thank you.” He brushed aside objections that contract soldiers were being sent to certain death: “They won’t throw you into the assault. I'm a UAV operator. And *** [excellent].”

Abdullin died on March 13, two months after leaving home.