Russia wants students to make up for growing losses in Ukraine.

Oksana Afanayeva, the adoptive mother of Valery Averin, said: “He studied the drone for three months – and yet they threw him into a meat grinder in front of the attack.”

The 23-year-old was among the first Russian students killed in Ukraine. It was registered as part of a new large-scale campaign to recruit young people from universities and colleges into Russia’s drone army.

“He never even served in the army,” complained Afansiyeva.

A campaign to encourage students at universities, technical colleges and vocational schools to sign military contracts began earlier this year as Russia looks to extend its war effort into a fifth year. It is especially aimed at those who are struggling academically or considering taking a break from their studies.

Drone units are presented as a more sophisticated and technically advanced means of warfare.

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

In early April, he called his foster mother to say he was being sent “to another location without[phone]signal” and not to worry.

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

“Nothing will happen to me, everything will be fine,” he said.

A week later, on April 8, she learned he had died in a mortar attack near Luhansk in Ukraine’s eastern Russia.

Vladylav Gorbunov, an 18-year-old from the small town of Yunecha, 70 km (43 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, died four months after signing the contract – on April 6.

He studied railway construction and maintenance at his local State Technical Institute of Sectoral Technologies and Transport and was first assigned to the Infantry Division’s Frontal Assault Division and transferred to the Unmanned Operators Division.

Rakim Abdullin enrolled at Kummertau College of Mines to train as a welder two years ago, but the course didn’t work out, and in January, less than two weeks after his 18th birthday, he signed a military contract with the aim of becoming a drone operator as it seemed like a safe option.

“When he got there, there was no security,” said his mother, Elena. Because they also see the attack troops and they are on the front line.

He died on March 13. “He went fast and came back fast,” she said.

The three former students – Abdulin, Gorbunov and Averin – were among 230,407 Russian soldiers and officers confirmed dead by the BBC.

The actual death toll is believed to be much higher, and military experts believe that our open source analysis reflects 45-55% of the total number. That puts the actual death to be between 417,000 and 509,500. GCHQ, the UK’s biggest spy agency, said in May the number was around 500,000.

Ukraine’s losses are also very high. President Volodymyr Zelensky finally admitted that 55,000 people were dead and many more missing by February 2026.

An anonymous Ukrainian website suggests the total number of military deaths could be as high as 213,000, while Dutch military data puts the number of dead, wounded and missing at around 500,000.