22-year-old Russian conscript sent to war despite suicide attempt. He went missing after an assault operation and was later declared dead.

Alexander Korolkov, a 22-year-old conscript from Dmitrov near Moscow, found himself in a tragic situation after attempting suicide during his military service. According to his mother, Maria Korolkova, who spoke to Veter, Korolkov had been studying to become a food technologist when he took academic leave in the summer of 2024. Shortly after, he received a summons from the draft office and was sent to serve, despite having been diagnosed with "mixed personality disorder" just a month prior.

Korolkov, described by his mother as kind, trusting, and sensitive, attempted to take his own life at a training center for engineering troops in Nizhny Novgorod. After the training center, he was sent to a military unit in Boguchar, Voronezh region, where he was admitted to a psychoneurological clinic and prescribed medication.

Despite her reassurances, Korolkov signed a contract for military service in Ukraine five days after his discharge from the clinic, which his mother believes was fabricated. In April 2025, his unit sent him on an assault operation in the occupied territories of Ukraine, but he went missing. In the summer of 2026, his unit petitioned a court to declare him dead, and his mother received a death certificate for her son.