Youngest Russian Soldier Killed In Ukraine War, Parents Find Out 3 Weeks Later

The youngest Russian soldier deployed to Ukraine was confirmed to have died after a DNA test identified retrieved mutilated remains as his.

Roman Akimov, 18, from the Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia, reportedly died while performing his military duty on the frontline during the special operation to liberate Donbas. However, his death was only confirmed three weeks later through a DNA test performed on mutilated remains recovered from the war, Metro reported.

After Akimov died in battle, it took three weeks before the soldier’s grieving parents, Evgenia and Ivan, got informed about his demise.

“The last time we called him was on March 15,” Akimov's sister Natalia said. She added that he was alive and well when they talked to him. However, the family lost contact with him after that.

Based on a DNA test conducted on the mutilated remains, investigators learned on April 10 that Akimov died on March 17. Following his death, Akimov's parents were handed Roman’s posthumous Order of Courage, on the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Daily Mail reported.

Evgenia shared a photo of her son on social media and a poem she penned for him.

“I will never forget you, I swear, I promise. I had no time to say so many words to you. Forgive me for all the bad things. I wish I could hug you tightly. I wish I could say goodbye to you properly, looking into your eyes for the last time. Knowing firmly that you are calm there and heaven keeps you in peace,” she wrote.

Akimov was among the more than 20,300 Russian troops believed to have been killed in the war thus far. The Russian army has reportedly lost about 165 planes, 146 helicopters, 773 tanks, and 2,002 armored personnel carriers.

Meanwhile, another top-ranking military official, Colonel Ivan Grishin, commander of the 49th anti-aircraft missile brigade, got killed in the battle.

Grishin reportedly got killed near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where Russian missiles have been raining down for the past several weeks.