Valery Averin is among the first Russian students whose death in the war was confirmed after a recruitment campaign carried out at VK/Kyakhtinsky District educational institutions "He studied drones for three months — and yet they threw him in a frontal attack, straight into the meat grinder," said Oksana Afanasyeva, Valery Averin's adoptive mother. The 23-year-old is among the first Russian students whose death in Ukraine was confirmed after he enlisted as part of a new large-scale campaign to recruit young people from universities and colleges into Russia's drone units. "He had never even served in the army," lamented Afanasyeva. The campaign to encourage students at universities, technical colleges and vocational schools to sign contracts with the army began earlier this year as Russia sought to maintain its war effort into a fifth year of conflict. The initiative focused especially on those who were facing academic difficulties or who were considering taking a break from their studies. Drone units were presented as an elite and technologically advanced way of acting in warfare. Averin grew up in an orphanage in eastern Siberia until he was taken in by a foster family at age 11. When he was recruited into the army, he was in his final year at the Republican Technical School of Construction in Buryatia. In early April, he called his adoptive mother to tell her he was being sent to a place with "no [phone] signal" and asked her not to worry. He initially said he had traveled to earn money working at Wildberries, a Russian retail website. But his mother was shocked to discover he had signed a military contract and completed training as a drone operator. "He told me: 'Nothing will happen to me, everything will be fine'." A week later, on April 8, she learned that Averin had died in a mortar attack near Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, an area occupied by Russia. Vladislav Gorbunov, an 18-year-old from the small town of Unecha — located 70 km north of the Ukrainian border — died on April 6, four months after signing the contract. He had studied railway construction and maintenance at the State Technical School of Sectoral Technologies and Transport in his region and was initially sent to a frontline infantry assault unit, before being transferred to a drone operator unit. Rakhim Abdullin had enrolled at Kumertau Mining College to qualify as a welder two years earlier, but his studies did not prosper. In January, just over two weeks after turning 18, he signed a military contract with the goal of becoming a drone operator, as that seemed like a safe option. "But when he got there, he saw that it wasn't safe at all," explained his mother, Elena. "Because they also see the storm troopers and they are right on the front lines." By March 13, he was already dead. The three former students — Abdullin, Gorbunov and Averin — are among 230,407 Russian soldiers and officers whose deaths were confirmed by the BBC, based on analysis of cemeteries, war memorials, government records and obituaries. The real death toll is believed to be much higher. Military experts estimate that analysis of open source data reflects between 45% and 55% of total war deaths. This would place the real number of deaths between 417 thousand and 509.5 thousand. GCHQ, the UK's main intelligence agency, said in May that the number was almost 500,000. Ukraine's losses are also very high. President Volodymyr Zelensky reported, in February 2026, the occurrence of 55 thousand deaths, in addition to a large number of missing people. An anonymous Ukrainian website suggests that the total number of military deaths could reach 213,000, and Dutch military intelligence estimates the number of Ukrainian deaths, injuries and missing at around 500,000. Replacing casualties — including dead and wounded — has become critical to sustaining Russia's large-scale war in Ukraine, and authorities presented the program through which Averin was recruited as a voluntary route into a branch of the military considered modern, technologically advanced and relatively safe. Students are offered a special one-year contract to serve in a new branch of the military known as "unmanned systems troops" as drones have become a central weapon in the war in Ukraine. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov stated in November 2025 that the force would seek to attract mainly people under the age of 35, as younger recruits were considered more receptive to "new technologies". Within weeks, recruitment meetings began to be scheduled at educational institutions across Russia. BBC News Russia found evidence of recruitment activities in at least 95 universities and colleges by the end of February, and in April the student publication Groza estimated the number of universities and colleges that had promoted the signing of contracts to serve drone forces at almost 270. Drones like this remotely controlled FPV model have become increasingly important over the course of the war in Ukraine UKRInform/Nurphoto via Getty Images The proposal is carefully crafted. Students are told they can enlist for just one year — a period that includes training — and serve specifically in drone units rather than conventional infantry. They are promised high pay and the chance to gain valuable technical skills before resuming their studies. At some universities, students are promised additional benefits, such as lump-sum payments, places financed by the state budget, easier entry into postgraduate studies or better accommodation conditions. In the capital Moscow, leaflets distributed to students state that volunteers could receive at least five million rubles (R$296,000) during this year of service to the military. However, lawyers and human rights activists warn that these promises may not be legally valid. Since President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization decree in September 2022, military contracts have, in practice, been extended until the end of mobilization; therefore, it is very unlikely that a recruit will leave the service after serving for 12 months. A central argument of the Ministry of Defense's proposal is that the role of drone operator is safer than other combat roles, and keeps the soldier away from the front line. However, they have become high-value targets in this war, and are hunted by both sides because of their importance on the battlefield. At least 920 Russian drone operators have died since the large-scale invasion began in February 2022, according to an analysis by BBC News Russia, Mediazona and a team of volunteers. This number is based on publicly available sources. Therefore, the total number is likely to be even higher. Confirmed casualties among drone operators are already on par with those recorded in artillery units — one of the army's most exposed combat specialties. Furthermore, students may not even join drone units, as it is up to the Ministry of Defense to decide whether a recruit is suitable for service. Failure may result in transfer to another army division. In addition to financial incentives and patriotic appeals, there are cases in which students are under pressure to enlist. BBC News Russia found evidence that students were subject to pressure if they were about to be expelled or were considering an academic leave. At a Novosibirsk college, a director was recorded as he called students who refused to sign contracts cowards. There are reports that some institutions also faced demands to meet recruitment targets. A former advisor to the rector of the Far Eastern Federal University stated that the institution had received a quota to send 32 students to war in February. However, the university denied the information, classifying it as false and adding that it supports students who voluntarily decided to sign contracts. Russia's focus on students demonstrates how war increasingly depends on civilian institutions, ranging from universities and colleges to vocational schools. For young people, the promise is of money, status and the prospect of a short, specialized trajectory in the conflict. However, Valery Averin's death exposes the fragility — and ephemeral nature — of these same promises. His adoptive mother believes that the young man did not act as a protected technical specialist that he expected to perform: "He said nothing would happen to him", she reinforces.