Denis Kapustin, leader of Russian volunteers fighting in the Ukrainian army, dies in combat

“Tonight, our commander, Denis WhiteRex “Kapustin, has died heroically while carrying out a combat mission in the Zaporizhia sector of the front,” the Russian Volunteer Corps reported on Saturday on its Telegram channel.

According to preliminary reports, Kapustin was hit by a short-range kamikaze dronewhich both armies use extensively on the battlefield.

He Russian Volunteer Corps It is one of at least three voluntary formations of ethnic Russians that have fought under Ukrainian command in various areas of the front. Along with the Russian Freedom Legionparticipated in several cross-border raids in the Russian Bryansk region in the spring of 2023, which preceded a larger operation by Ukrainian forces the following year in Kursk.

Following the raids, the Russian Interior Ministry issued a arrest warrant against Kapustinalso known by the surname Nikitin, while Russian state media labeled him a neo-Nazi, emphasizing his far-right origins.

Although many in the Corps, including Kapustin himself, held far-right views, the unit stresses that its members are focused on overthrowing Vladimir Putin’s government, abandoning Russia’s imperialist ambitions and creating a state that prioritize the “welfare of ethnic Russians”.

His death is “a profound loss for the Russian volunteer movement and for all those who consistently opposed Putin’s imperialist policies,” the Russian Freedom Legion, another ethnically Russian unit made up mainly of liberal opponents of Putin’s government, stressed in its statement.

“He was a warrior who made a conscious decision in favor of armed resistance to the regime and He died in battle, remaining faithful to that choice until the end,” the statement states.

“The true Russian opposition fights against the Putin regime, not organizing rallies or forums in Europe or the West, like some opponents,” the colonel reacted. Andriy Kovalenkofrom the Center for Combating Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. “Someday, the true opposition will defeat this regime,” he noted.