Russian conscript sent to war after suicide attempt goes missing, later declared dead
A 22-year-old Russian conscript from Dmitrov was sent to fight in Ukraine despite a suicide attempt during his service and psychiatric treatment; he went missing after an assault operation in April 2025 and was declared dead in summer 2026.
The Russian outlet Veter has reported on the case of Alexander Korolkov, a 22-year-old conscript from Dmitrov near Moscow, based on an interview with his mother. Korolkov had been studying to become a food technologist at a vocational college when he took academic leave in the summer of 2024 — and immediately received a summons from the local draft office.
He was sent to serve, and a month later doctors diagnosed him with a "mixed personality disorder." While at a training center for engineering troops in the Nizhny Novgorod region, he attempted to take his own life.
His mother, Maria Korolkova, said her son was a kind, trusting, sensitive, homebound young man who never had typical teenage problems, and she believes the military environment and pressure were behind the suicide attempt.
After the training center, Korolkov was transferred to a military unit in Boguchar, in the Voronezh region, where he was admitted to a psychoneurological clinic and given medication. His mother said she was assured he would not be deployed to the front. However, just five days after his discharge from the clinic, Korolkov signed a contract for military service in Ukraine.
His mother said the family had told him not to sign any contract, but he later called to say he had been pressured into it. The military unit refused to show her the signed contract, leading her to suspect it may have been fabricated.
In April 2025, Korolkov's unit sent him on an assault operation in Ukraine's occupied territories, where he went missing. In the summer of 2026, the unit petitioned a court to have him declared dead, and his mother subsequently received his death certificate.
