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He chose to enlist in Samara, a region that in late 2024 offered a signing bonus of 4 million rubles (about $44,000)—a life-changing sum for a boy from Tayturka.
Like Alexander, Vitaly arrived in Ukraine in February 2025. His enthusiasm, if it ever existed, quickly evaporated. "He wrote that he regretted it," Alina recalled. "That he was having trouble sleeping." He told his mother he’d had only two weeks of training to become a military scout. "Mom, I realized that this is all no joke," he said.
On February 5, he messaged that he was being sent on a mission. "It was his first and last combat mission," his mother said. On February 11, Vitaly Ivanov was killed.
His zinc coffin arrived in Tayturka a few weeks later. Officials spoke of his bravery and sacrifice for the motherland. But his friends and family whispered something else. "Everyone says he went in vain," Mikhail said. "Why? So young."
Vitaly’s mother, Anna, is still seeking a different kind of justice. Before he left, Vitaly had filed a complaint against the police who he said had beaten him. On February 25, two weeks after he died, a formal notice arrived: the Investigative Committee had refused to open a case. Anna filed her own complaint. It was also rejected.
The deaths of these boys, who barely lived to be adults, have left their families shattered. "As a citizen of the Russian Federation, I am proud of my son," Alexander's mother, Elena, told the BBC. "But as a mother—I cannot survive this loss."