A new party has emerged in disputes over death compensation for those killed in the war in Ukraine: the extramarital children of “SMO” participants

A new party has emerged in disputes over death compensation for those killed in the war in Ukraine: the extramarital children of “SMO” participants

Lately, extramarital children have been appearing more and more often in family conflicts over compensation payments for deaths in the war, Verstka has found. Sometimes they come as a surprise to relatives who have already received and divided up the death benefits among themselves.

Angelina, a resident of the Luhansk region occupied by Russia, says her husband never told either her or his mother about the “secret” child. The family learned of the child’s existence only after the funeral:

“The child’s mother called my husband’s mother and said that she has a child who is now 14 years old.”

If a court confirms paternity with the help of DNA testing, part of the death benefits may be recovered from Angelina and her mother-in-law as “unjust enrichment.”

This is happening in different regions of Russia. In 2025, a court in Lipetsk granted the claim of a woman who demanded that 333,000 rubles be recovered from the daughter of a deceased “SMO” participant in favor of her child. And in 2026, the Belgorod Regional Court recovered 165,000 rubles each from the dead serviceman’s father and wife in favor of an extramarital child.

Read about how relatives of Russians killed in the war divide up the death benefits among themselves on Verstka’s website (with VPN):

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“Exes with blanks”: how Russian women establish the paternity of children they gave birth to by “SMO” participants

This leads to quarrels, scandals, and court cases