During a special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine, a Belarusian mercenary Aleksei Avdeenko with the call sign Yakub, who fought on the side of Kyiv, was killed. On Saturday, December 10, the Zerkalo publication reports with reference to the press service of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment.

As it became known to the publication, the mercenary has lived in Ukraine since 2016, when he signed a contract with the Armed Forces of the Republic (AFU). Since that time, he has participated in hostilities in the Donbass against the militias of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DNR and LNR). After the start of the SVO, he fought against the Russian army.

The place of death of the Belarusian mercenary is not reported. It is noted that he became the 16th Belarusian mercenary who fought on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who was killed in Ukraine.

In October, it was reported that the Investigative Committee (IC) of Belarus opened a criminal case against the creators and members of the "extremist battalion of Belarusian mercenaries" taking part in the hostilities in Ukraine. Proceedings under Article 361-1 (“Creation of an extremist formation or participation in it”) of the Criminal Code of Belarus were initiated against a group of Belarusian citizens who, “being on the territory of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland” and “following the templates of the chauvinist ideology of the armed groups of a neighboring country” , organized the "Regiment named after Kastus Kalinovsky".

Prior to this, a number of criminal cases were initiated in Belarus against mercenaries who tried to join the fighting in Ukraine. In particular, in August, a resident of Minsk was taken into custody on the relevant charges, and in July the prosecutor's office of the Gomel region sent a similar case to court against a 28-year-old Belarusian.