More and more young Russian Armed Forces servicemen under 25 are being killed and going missing

Forwarded From I Want to Find Project

More and more young servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces under the age of 25 are being killed and going missing in the war.

An analysis of more than 200,000 requests received by the “I Want to Find” project shows a growing share of young men under 25 among those missing in action.

In 2024, servicemen in this age group accounted for 8.5% of all search requests. In August 2024, when the Russian command threw conscripts to the border of Kursk region, the number of such requests jumped to 16%.

Already in 2025, the share of missing Russian Armed Forces servicemen under 25 rose to 13% of the total number of requests for the year. And in 2026, the figure reached more than 15%.

Going forward, the number of young men who sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense, go to war, and are then killed, go missing, or end up in captivity will only increase.

The Russian Ministry of Defense continues to force conscript soldiers to sign contracts. Mothers of young men from different parts of Russia tell nearly identical stories: immediately after entering compulsory military service, officers begin persuading them, threatening them, using physical violence, and falsifying documents to force conscripts onto contracts. And after signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense, the recruits are quickly sent to fight in Ukraine.

In addition, for the past six months, students across Russia have been actively recruited into unmanned systems troops. They are offered supposedly special contracts and safe service. But all of this is a lie: UAV operators are also stationed near the front line, are priority targets for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and are killed.

Maxim Kupyansky explained what fate awaits trusting students in the Russian army and where drone operators actually end up. He fought as part of a drone operator unit and ended up in captivity.

❗️ To submit a request to search for a missing Russian army serviceman in Ukraine, use the “I Want to Find” project Telegram bot