19-year-old Russian conscript killed in Belgorod Region ‘in the line of duty’

A 19-year-old Russian conscript Nikita Koshelyov was killed “in the line of duty” in Russia’s Belgorod Region, NN.ru news outlet informs, citing the soldier’s relatives.

Representatives of a college that he attended confirmed Koshelyov’s death. This is the first known case of a Russian soldier killed on Russian soil during the war with Ukraine.

According to Koshelyov’s friend Kirill Kulikov, the soldier last contacted him on April 18. He texted Kulikov: “We’re going to get bombed, I’ll call you or text you tomorrow if anything happens.” Koshelyov never contacted his family or friends after that.

“Nikita Koshelyov was conscripted into the army on July 1, 2021. His friends visited his unit in January, when he was in the village of Mulino in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. In February, Nikita was sent to the Ukrainian border. Officially, he should have been discharged in 75 days, and it is not known whether he signed a contract or not. <...> Nikita missed his family and girlfriend Liza very much, he had plans for the future,” NN.ru reports.

The letter sent to the conscript’s mother reads: “I regret to inform you that your son, Private Koshelyov Nikita Dmitriyevich, true to his military oath, was killed on April 19, 2022 in the line of duty in the Belgorod Region.

Military commissar of the city of Arzamas and the Arzamas District of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, S. Semyonov”

On April 19, Governor of Russia’s Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov reported an attack on the village of Golovchino “from the side of Ukraine,” adding that three people were injured in the attack.