The great-grandson of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev has allegedly been captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting in the ongoing war.
Anton Milaev, 45, is said to have joined the Russian military as a combat engineer and reportedly lost contact with his family in November last year.
According to Russian Telegram channel Baza, Milaev's mother, Irina Kuznetsova, was later informed that her son had been captured by Ukrainian troops and was being held in the Kherson region.
Milaev is the adopted grandson of Galina Brezhneva, the daughter of Leonid Brezhnev, who led the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982.
His name has also reportedly appeared on Myrotvorets, a Ukrainian online database that lists individuals considered to be enemies of Ukraine. The database identified him as Brezhnev's great-grandson and claimed that he "went to kill Ukrainians voluntarily, having concluded a contract with the Russian Federation in autumn 2025”.
It also stated that Milaev had been taken prisoner, citing information from the Baza report. However, the claims have not been independently verified, and Ukrainian authorities have not officially commented on the matter.
A source in Ukraine's main directorate of intelligence told the BBC that Milaev was being held in captivity.
Serhii Sternenko, an adviser linked to Ukraine's defence ministry, also commented on the reported capture.
Leonid Brezhnev remains one of the most prominent figures in Soviet history. He served as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for around 18 years. His tenure remains one of the longest in Soviet history, second only to that of Joseph Stalin.
The developments come amid ongoing discussions over prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again expressed Kyiv's willingness to conduct an “all-for-all” prisoner exchange held by both countries.
In February, Zelensky said Ukraine was holding more than 4,000 Russian prisoners of war, while around 7,000 Ukrainians were believed to be in Russian captivity.
Last year, Russia and Ukraine carried out their largest prisoner exchange of the war, with hundreds of Ukrainian captives returning home.
