Ildar Dadin, a well-known Russian opposition activist who had taken up arms to fight against Russia in Ukraine, has tragically been confirmed killed in action, as reported by the Civic Council, the organization that recruited him. A spokesperson for the group shared this devastating news with the BBC, stating, “He was, and he remains a hero.”

Dadin met his end when the Freedom of Russia Legion, the volunteer battalion he fought with, came under fire from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine. Details surrounding the incident remain sparse, as the Legion has chosen not to comment while ongoing military operations are underway. However, Ilia Ponamarev, an exiled Russian politician connected with the Legion, expressed his grief, saying he was “certain, alas,” that Dadin had died. Another source confirmed that his death was “verified by those who were with him in battle.”

Before this tragic loss, Dadin had become a symbol of resistance against political oppression in Russia over the past decade. He was the first person to be prosecuted under a controversial law enacted in 2014 that criminalized repeated violations of strict protest regulations. For Dadin, this merely meant standing in the streets of Moscow with a banner, which resulted in a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence. During his incarceration, he faced torture and went on a hunger strike to protest the conditions.

In 2017, shortly after his release, I had the chance to interview him in Moscow. Dadin recounted the harrowing details of his imprisonment, describing being suspended from a wall by his cuffed wrists and facing threats of sexual assault from guards. These experiences nearly broke his spirit.

When I learned earlier this year that he had joined a battalion of Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine, I reached out to discuss his decision. He expressed his strong moral conviction, stating, “I can’t sit by and do nothing and so become an accomplice to Russian evil, to its crimes.” Although he had always considered himself a pacifist, he listed his motivations for enlisting: “The aggression, the mass killing, the torture, rape, and looting,” even adopting the callsign “Gandhi.”

Dadin felt a deep sense of personal responsibility for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He expressed regret that he and many fellow Russians had been intimidated into silence by police violence and the fear of imprisonment, failing to take action against Vladimir Putin’s regime. “The main thing now is to act according to my conscience,” he confided to me one evening from near the frontlines in Sumy.

He initially joined the Siberian Battalion in June 2023 before transferring to the Freedom of Russia Legion, which operates within the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Most recruits are Russian citizens who believe that helping Ukraine defeat Putin is a necessary step toward ending his regime in Russia. While the size and effectiveness of these battalions remain uncertain, they have claimed some victories, including a notable cross-border incursion earlier this year.

Despite his determination, Dadin’s experiences in combat were far from what he had imagined. He criticized several missions as “pointless,” recalling a particularly harrowing situation where he was pinned down for hours by Russian fire, enduring relentless drone attacks while witnessing a fellow soldier succumb to his injuries. Exhausted and nursing a hip wound, he contemplated leaving but felt compelled to stay, unable to remain “on the sidelines” while Ukrainians were killed by “Russian criminals.”

In one of our final conversations, he expressed profound regret, saying, “I tried to stop Russia – but did I do it? No. And thousands of people have been killed because I did not do enough.” Those who knew him best strongly disagreed with his self-critique, stating, “Ildar was strong, brave, principled, and honest,” as conveyed in a statement from the Civic Council. “That’s how we should remember him.”