18-year-old conscript Danil Aksenov was called up for service on November 20, 2025, in military unit 98563 (118th separate pontoon and bridge battalion, Khabarovsk). A few months later, according to his own explanation, he was pressured to sign a contract and then sent to war with Ukraine two days before the termination hearing.
On the night of February 9, 2026, Aksenov, after a day’s work, was, according to his own explanation, taken “to be agitated” in a locker room, where he stood awake until morning. The company commander, Lieutenant Terentyev, after reviewing correspondence with his mother, said that Danil was facing a prison sentence for “espionage” for his phone, but if he signed the contract, “everyone would forget it.” After two days without sleep, Aksenov wrote a report with a request to apply for a contract with him.
According to his mother, who was interviewed by an ASTRA journalist, Aksenov was forced to sign the contract, despite having flat feet. According to the professional psychological selection card of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur military enlistment office (available to the editorial staff), he was recommended only for driving positions of the lowest, III category.
On April 17, Aksyonov was transferred to the 69th separate brigade of the 35th Combined Arms Army – formally a “reconnaissance operator” – and taken to the Knyaz-Volkonskoye military town near Khabarovsk. This happened despite the fact that Danil appealed the conclusion of the contract in court, and a hearing on his claim was scheduled for April 20. Aksyonov was flown from Knyaz-Volkonsky to Rostov; on April 26, he got in touch from under occupied Mariupol.
According to his mother, Danila was assigned to the 1st assault company at the 69th Brigade training ground. He asked to be a drone operator twice — “for some reason, the answers are not coming.”
According to her, personal belongings were not returned during the transfer. He left with “two handkerchiefs and a push-button phone.”
Aksenov’s mother claims that Danil’s case is not an isolated one: in Khabarovsk, as she claims, there is a “conveyor belt” — the “court” scheme, and the next day other conscripts were transferred to Knyaz-Volkonskoye. These claims have not yet been independently confirmed.
The Khabarovsk garrison military Court accepted the position of the Ministry of Defense: the contract was “filled out and signed voluntarily,” and the consent of the serviceman for certification is “not mandatory.” According to the mother, the court did not call any witnesses to the forced signing of the contract.
Since May 14, Danil has not been in touch — he was sent on a combat mission from the location of the unit in Mariupol. It is not possible to find out his exact location.
