Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Imagine what else the Kremlin is willing to do if it is already doing things like that.
Russia is trying to recruit university students into its drone forces.
Speaking to NBC News, a Russian student at a university in Siberia said that “everyone understands that it’s not as they say it is.”
He was allegedly referring to multiple reports of Russian students signing contracts with drone units only to be sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
And now, open-source intelligence appears to confirm the existence of this Kremlin scheme for the very first time.
A broken promise
The BBC Russian Service reported on May 12 that a university student recruited specifically for a high-tech drone unit had died in frontline combat, highlighting a harsh shift in battlefield tactics.
Reporters identified the casualty as Valery Averin, who allegedly signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense in early January 2026.
Driven by a desire to avoid the trenches, his goal was to serve in the newly formed Unmanned Systems Forces.
Averin completed his specialized drone operator training on March 24. Just nine days later, he called his mother for the final time before going silent.
Sent to the front
By April 8, the young soldier was dead. His tragic end came just two weeks after he completed the technical course.
His mother shared the brutal details with the BBC Russian Service. She explained that commanders completely ignored his specialized drone background once he arrived at the staging area.
She told reporters that Russian forces “threw him [Averin] into an assault, right into the meat grinder” before he died. A Ukrainian mortar strike ultimately killed her son.
Local officials from the Kyakhta Raion Administration in the Republic of Buryatia confirmed his death on April 24. They stated that he was killed near Luhansk.
Fears become reality
The BBC Russian Service noted that he likely served in the 147th Engineer-Sapper Regiment. That unit operates near his university in Buryatia, making it an easy placement for recruiters.
His mother also mentioned hearing about another student recruit who suffered the same fate. Journalists have not yet verified that second casualty.
The Institute for the Study of War notes that the Russian Ministry of Defense began recruiting students for drone units earlier this year. The think tank views this aggressive push as a covert way to boost overall troop numbers amid heavy battlefield losses.
Russian military bloggers previously warned about exactly this scenario. For months, they openly worried that desperate commanders would simply funnel these educated tech recruits straight into basic assault squads.
Sources: BBC Russian Service, Kyakhta Raion Administration, Russian military bloggers, Institute for the Study of War, NBC News
