Russian Man Sentenced to 19 Years for Murder Leaves for War in Ukraine
Kirill Cheplygin, convicted of brutally killing his ex-wife and her boyfriend, has signed a contract with Russia's Defense Ministry and departed to fight in Ukraine.
In December 2025, the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court sentenced 35-year-old Kirill Cheplygin, a resident of Achinsk, to 19 years and two months in a strict-regime penal colony for a double murder committed with particular cruelty.
Cheplygin was found guilty of murdering his ex-wife, Yekaterina, and her new boyfriend, Vyacheslav. The attack occurred in February 2025, when he attacked the couple with a knife in the stairwell of Yekaterina's building and then killed them in the street. Yekaterina's mother witnessed the killing from a window. Prosecutors stated that Cheplygin deliberately continued the assault, aiming to cause her additional suffering.
After the murders, Cheplygin returned home and attempted suicide, but relatives found him in time. A friend of Yekaterina told the Telegram channel Sibirskii Ekspress that she had decided to divorce Cheplygin after 10 years together, citing his constant control and psychological and physical abuse. She left behind a five-year-old daughter, while Vyacheslav, also killed, had been raising a 15-year-old daughter alone.
During the investigation, Cheplygin requested to be sent to the front to avoid punishment. Residents of Achinsk started a petition demanding he not be released, which garnered over 11,000 signatures. Yekaterina's relatives feared he would return after a pardon and take her daughter.
On June 9, 2025—the same day a court ruling stripping him of parental rights took effect—Cheplygin signed a contract with Russia's Defense Ministry and left for the war in Ukraine, according to his ex-wife's mother, who spoke to the newspaper Gorod A.
