Russian Soldier Declared Dead and Buried While Still Held in Ukrainian Captivity

In Russia, in the city of Chelyabinsk, a funeral was held for Russian serviceman Fyodor Lyubaev, even though he is alive and currently being held in Ukrainian captivity.

According to the I Want to Find project, the burial was reported by his ex-wife.

Fyodor Vladimirovich Lyubaev, born in 1988, served in the 1st Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (military unit No. 41680).

According to confirmed information, he was taken into captivity back in 2024. Despite this, his family received a notification of his death, and a farewell ceremony was held on July 14, 2025. As often happens in such cases, the funeral took place with a closed casket, which made it impossible for relatives to identify the body.

The fact that the serviceman is alive is confirmed by video footage in which Lyubaev personally comments on the situation. He says that he has been waiting for a prisoner exchange for a long time.

Despite the existence of established information-sharing channels through the International Committee of the Red Cross, confusion in record-keeping continues to persist within Russian government agencies.

Relatives often encounter conflicting information: one authority may declare a serviceman as having gone absent without leave (AWOL), a hotline may list him as missing in action, while offices of human rights commissioners may report him as killed.

“I Want to Find” is a Ukrainian state humanitarian project created to help Russian citizens find information about their relatives who are military personnel and who have gone missing, died, or been taken prisoner in Ukraine. To contact the project and obtain information about Russian military personnel, use the official Telegram bot @hochunaiti_bot.