Russia looks to students to make up for mounting losses in Ukraine

“He worked on drones for three months, and yet they threw him into a frontal attack, into the meat grinder,” said Oksana Afanayeva, Valery Averin’s stepmother.

The 23-year-old is among the first Russian students known to have been killed in Ukraine after taking part in a new large-scale campaign to recruit young people from universities and colleges into Russia’s drones.

“He didn’t even serve in the military,” Afanasyeva complained.

The campaign to encourage students at universities, technical colleges and vocational schools to sign army contracts began earlier this year as Russia looks to continue its war effort for a fifth year. It is particularly focused on those who are experiencing academic difficulties or who are considering taking a break from their studies.

Drone units were presented as a more elite and technically advanced way to fight.

Averin grew up in an orphanage in eastern Siberia until he was taken into foster care at age 11. He was a senior at the Buryat Republican Technical Construction School when he was drafted into the army.

In early April, he called his stepmother and told her he was going to be sent somewhere “without anything.” [phone] He said it was a “signal” and that he shouldn’t worry.

He said he initially went to make money at Russian online retailer Wildberries, and was shocked to learn he had signed a military contract and completed training as a drone operator.

“He said to me, ‘Nothing will happen to me, everything will be fine.'”

A week later, on April 8, he learned that he had been killed in a mortar attack near Russian-occupied Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

18-year-old Vladislav Gorbunov, who lived in the small town of Unecha, 70 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, died on April 6, 4 months after signing the contract.

He had trained in railway construction and maintenance at the local Government Technical School of Sectoral Technologies and Transport and was first posted to a front-line infantry assault unit before being transferred to a unit of drone operators.

Rakhim Abdullin had enrolled at Kumertau Mining College two years ago to train as a welder, but his studies did not go well and in January, just over two weeks after his 18th birthday, he signed a military contract aiming to become a drone operator because it seemed like a safe option.

“But when he got there, it became clear that the environment was not safe at all,” said his mother, Elena. “Because they also see the assault troops and they are right at the front lines.”

He died on March 13. “He left quickly and came back quickly,” he said.

The three former students – Abdullin, Gorbunov and Averin – are among 230,407 Russian soldiers and officers whose deaths have been confirmed by the BBC, based on analysis of cemeteries, war memorials, government records and obituaries.

The actual death toll is believed to be much higher, and military experts believe our open source analysis reflects 45-55% of the total. This suggests the true death toll will be between 417,000 and 509,500. GCHQ, Britain’s top spy agency, said in May the number was almost 500,000.

Ukraine’s losses are also very high. President Volodymyr Zelensky last acknowledged 55,000 deaths as well as many missing people in February 2026.

An anonymous Ukrainian website suggests that the total number of military deaths could reach 213,000, while Dutch military intelligence estimates the number of dead, wounded and missing at around 500,000.

Replacing the dead and wounded has become key to continuing Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, and officials have presented the plan under which Averin would be recruited as a volunteer into a modern, high-tech and relatively safe branch of the military.

As drones become central to the war in Ukraine, students are being offered a special one-year contract to serve in a new branch of the military known as “unmanned system troops”.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said in November 2025 that the force primarily aims to attract people under the age of 35, as young soldiers are seen as more open to “new technologies and speeds”.

Within a few weeks, recruitment meetings began to be held in educational institutions in Russia.

BBC Russian found evidence of recruitment activity at at least 95 universities and colleges by the end of February, and in April student publication Groza put the number of universities and colleges promoting contracts for drones at almost 270.

The course has been carefully designed.

Students are told they can sign up for just one year, including training, before returning to their studies and serve in dedicated drone units rather than regular infantry, earning large payouts and valuable technical skills.

At some universities, students are promised additional benefits such as lump sum payments, subsidized places, easier admission to postgraduate courses or better accommodation.

Brochures distributed to students in the capital Moscow state that volunteers can receive at least five million rubles (£43,000; $57,000) in the first year.

But lawyers and rights advocates warn that these promises may not be implemented.

Since President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization decree in September 2022, military contracts have been extended until mobilization ends, so a new soldier is unlikely to leave after 12 months.

One of the arguments put forward by the Ministry of Defense is that the job of a drone operator is safer than other combat missions away from the front line.

However, in this war, they became high-value targets hunted by both sides due to their importance on the battlefield.

At least 920 Russian drone operators have been killed since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to analysis by BBC Russian, Mediazona and a team of volunteers. This number comes from publicly available sources, so the real figure is likely to be higher.

Confirmed losses among drone operators are comparable to those recorded in artillery units, one of the military’s most exposed combat specialties.

And the cadets may not even be able to join the drone forces, as it is up to the Department of Defense to decide whether a new soldier is suitable. Failure could mean transfer to another branch of the military.

Aside from financial incentives and patriotic appeals, students are sometimes pressured to enroll.

BBC Russian found evidence that students who were on the verge of being expelled or considering taking academic leave were being targeted.

A principal at one of the Novosibirsk colleges was recorded calling students cowards for refusing to sign contracts.

Some institutions are also reportedly facing hiring targets.

A former adviser to the rector of the Far Eastern Federal University said the institution was given a quota to send 32 students to war in February. However, the university denied this and said the report was fake, adding that it supported the students who voluntarily decided to sign the contract.

Russia’s focus on students shows how the war is deepening into civilian institutions, from universities to colleges to vocational schools.

The young men are offered money, status, and the promise of a short, expert path through the war. But the death of Valery Averin makes clear how fragile and how fleeting such promises can be.

His stepmother believes he was not being used as the protected technical expert he expected to be: “She said nothing would happen to him.”