Deserters at the front: how ex-soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces die under Russian flags

Journalists have collected data on former members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who betrayed their oath of allegiance and died in the ranks of the Russian occupation army after 2014.

The material of Krym.Realii contains the names, biographies and circumstances of the deaths of at least 18 such persons.

Among the highest-ranking officers is Colonel Oleksiy Avramchenko from Simferopol, who was the deputy head of the Crimean Department of the Military Law Enforcement Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine before the occupation of Crimea. After betraying his oath, he served as a deputy colonel of the 20th motorized rifle division of the Russian Federation. Avramchenko died in July 2022 during a strike on the command post in Chornobaivka.

Oleksiy Avramchenko. Photo: Krym. Realities

Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Kulakov, who until 2014 served in the radio engineering battalion of the Ukrainian Air Force on Ai-Petra, died in Crimea in May 2024 as a result of a missile strike on Russian air defense.

Major Vyacheslav Karenko, a native of Saki district, was killed in Mariupol in April 2022, probably as a member of the 810th Separate Marine Brigade of the Russian Federation.

Photo: Krym. Realii

The journalists also found that two former AFU soldiers, Senior Lieutenant Dmytro Davydenko and Warrant Officer Oleh Kryvonos, were killed at the Belbek airfield in May 2024 along with their equipment. Both served in anti-aircraft missile units of the Russian Federation.

Some of the ex-servicemen, such as Volodymyr Lysenko from Feodosia, joined the ranks of the Wagner PMC after serving in the Russian army and were killed near Bakhmut. Others, such as Vadym Konin from Novoozerne, served in the Russian special forces and were also declared wanted by Ukraine as deserters.

The journalists called the stories when former colleagues came to the occupied territories to visit the families of their fallen Ukrainian colleagues, claiming that they would now "protect" them on behalf of Russia, particularly cynical.

The journalists emphasized that the list is far from complete, new data continues to emerge, and the stories of each traitor are important evidence of how fates fall apart after choosing to serve the occupier.

Ірина Глухова