Journalists report first known combat death of Russian soldier born in 2007

The first known death of a Russian soldier born in 2007 was reported on social media last week, according to the independent outlet Mediazona.

Alexander Petlinsky, a student at Chelyabinsk Medical College who was born on January 31, 2007, was killed on March 9, 2025, a branch of the state-sponsored youth organization Movement of the First wrote on VKontakte. The post was sparse on details about Petlinsky’s death, saying only that was killed “while fulfilling military duties.”

Since the start of the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, journalists at Mediazona and BBC News Russia have been working with volunteers to maintain a list of Russian soldiers confirmed to have died in the war. Petlinsky is the first person on their list to have been born in 2007.

However, Petlinsky isn’t the youngest Russian soldier to have died in Ukraine; multiple others who were born before him have died in the war at younger ages.