A student recruited into Russia’s drone forces was killed in Ukraine. This is the first known case
A student recruited into Russia’s drone forces was killed in Ukraine. This is the first known case
Valery Averin, a 23-year-old resident of Buryatia, was killed in a mortar attack near Luhansk, just three months after beginning his service, the BBC Russian Service found out.
Averin was raised in an orphanage in the village of Timlyuy. At age 11, he was taken in by a foster family. Averin was recruited for the war during his final year at the Buryat Republic Technical School of Construction and Industrial Technologies.
As Averin's foster mother told journalists, Valery finished his drone operator training on March 24. On April 2, he called her for the last time and said he was leaving for a place where there was "no connection." She was informed of her foster son's death on April 8.
Averin's death is the first known case of a Russian student being killed after going to war amid a large-scale campaign to recruit university and college students into the drone forces.
@meduzalive
Student Recruitment Reached the Front First
A Buryatia student died three months after recruitment
The campaign moved faster than the training.