Russian Attack Helicopter Pilot in Suicide Video Claims Military Leadership Criminal, Corrupt

So far, Russian army authorities haven’t acknowledged one of their pilots published a video saying he had to kill himself because his chain of command faked criminal charges against him. Make us preferred on Google Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Content Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Flip Make us preferred on Google Russian attack helicopter pilot Aleksei Zemtsov, in a suicide video, accused members of his Air Force chain of command of corruption, negligence and trying to exploit an ugly break-up of his marriage to force him out of military service, according to content published on his popular Telegram channel Voyevoda Broadcasts on Wednesday evening. “If you are watching this, it means I am no longer among the living. I have used the Russian officer’s right of ‘final honor’,” Zemtsov said in the lead-off to the first of three videos. “I won’t be able to survive this disgrace.” Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official . Russian and Ukrainian media, as well as other pro-Moscow milbloggers, confirmed the content to be authentic and that Zemtsov’s current rank was Guards Senior Lieutenant. Per that reporting, he piloted a KA-52 “Alligator” attack helicopter while assigned to Russian Air Force squadrons operating in Ukraine and saw extensive combat using the call sign “Voyevoda.” “Final honor” is a 19th-century Imperial Russian euphemism for a military professional’s decision to kill himself rather than suffer insults impossible to respond to. By Thursday afternoon, no official Russian law enforcement or military agency had commented publicly on Zemtsov’s status. In the videos published to 160,000+ followers on his popular Telegram mil-blog platform, Zemtsov identified Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Kravchenko, currently deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Federation Aerospace Forces, as pursuing a vendetta against him since 2023. Other Topics of Interest Sweden Warns Russia Could Seize Baltic Island to Test NATO Sweden’s top military commander has warned that Russia could launch a limited operation in the Baltic Sea to “make a point” and test NATO unity amid fears of a Baltic escalation. Zemtsov recounted that he first came into conflict with Air Force leadership by making public the policy in effect at a combat-deployed Su-34 strike jet squadron that pilots should, after flying missions and debriefings, form up in a marching formation and practice drill and ceremony. “I have nothing to say about this, it [obligatory marching practice for Russian combat pilots] really happened…Kravchenko didn’t like it,” Zemtsov said. According to Zemtsov’s account, the Russian Air Force chain of command grounded Zemtsov and attempted to force him to quit military service via a medical disqualification. Zemtsov said he refused to quit and that, following negotiations with Kravchenko, he transferred to a different unit and returned to combat flying. That assignment lasted, he said, until October 2025 when Zemtsov returned home on leave and found his wife cheating with the Voyevoda Broadcasts production manager, which led to an argument and a fistfight.“The one thing I did right, was that I took him [the production manager] into a forest, and I f*cked him up, as we say in Russian. And by the way, it wasn’t that severe,” Zemtsov said of the incident. “For this I was thrown into solitary confinement for four and a half months…and they accused me of assault, threat to murder, destruction of property and large-scale extortion.” Zemtsov said that his chain of command, in retaliation for his unwillingness to shut down his blog and quit the service filed charges against him carrying a seven-year prison sentence in a military court “because I hit a guy two times.” The proceedings and detention per his account continued until Spring 2026, when, per Russian law allowing convicts and persons accused of crimes to have charges against them erased in exchange for joining the military for service in Ukraine, Zemtsov volunteered to join an assault infantry unit as a platoon commander. Zemtsov quickly ran afoul of his superiors on April 4 when he posted in his blog about Russian army helmets being issued to troops, which, he said, were of poor quality and unable to resist a bullet strike as they were supposed to. This returned Zemtsov to military police detention on potential charges of discrediting the Russian army, a criminal offense carrying a potential penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a fine equivalent to $3,973. Zemtsov alleged his unit commander and the military prosecutor conspired with General Kravchenko to persecute with the charge, and stated that he preferred to kill himself rather than be tried for discrediting the reputation of the Russian military in which, he said, he had served for years as an Air Force pilot flying hundreds of combat missions in Ukraine. “What was in their heads when they decided to say I discredited the Russian army, I have no idea,” Zemtsov said. “It’s just total rubbish, it’s just invented. Either this person [Kravchenko and/or the military prosecutor] has some problem with his mental health, or he’s just covering his a*rse right now. But from what I have no idea.” Evidence proving criminal acts by Kravchenko, including manipulating witnesses, falsifying testimony, concealing corruption, theft of service members’ personal property and failure to investigate those and other crimes within a military unit, will “be passed on to relevant authorities,” Zemtsov said. Although over the years critical of Russian Air Force senior leadership and non-pilots, Zemtsov was an outspoken supporter of Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine. In a Nov. 5 2025 post he called for Ukrainian drone pilots captured by Russian forces to be murdered on the spot – a by-definition war crime. “And then the [vulgar Russian hate word for Ukrainians] are surprised and whine when their drone pilots are wiped out on the spot, and aren’t taken prisoner. I’ll tell you more, we are going to keep on nullifying [Russian army slang for “kill helpless person] them. Because these animals have become accustomed to such things. And there’s only one way to fight an animal infected with rabies: A bullet to the forehead,” Senior Lieutenant Zemtsov explained to his 160,000+ followers.In a profanity-laced Nov. 18 2025 post, Zemtsov cheered Russian missile and drone strikes on the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk that had successfully taken down much of the power grid, leaving tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians in homes without heating or electricity for days. “The power still hasn’t returned in Ivano-Frankivsk. A big thank you to the guys who threw the switches! [i.e. Russian Air Force pilots that launched the cruise missiles hitting the city]. But the [vulgar word for Ukrainians] crests have found an advantage in the blackout. Now we can’t see their ugly faces. It’s hard but necessary work,” Zemtsov enthused. Popular Russian mil-blogger Ilya Tumanov, author of the unofficial Russian Air Force information platform FighterBomber, in Thursday comment, said that he spoke with Zemtsov both before and after the suicide videos were published. Some of Zemtsov’s claims are questionable and he probably was overwrought, Tumanov wrote in a post to 520,000+ followers. “People have shot themselves for much less. And here, a young guy had so many traitors at once: his wife, the channel admin who slept with his wife…the rest of the military blogger pedophile community, and the chain of command. He could have cracked under the pressure, who knows,” Tumanov said. Zemtsov in closing comments, called on followers and other mil-bloggers to remain true to Russia, to “have the balls” to call out Russian military leaders on incompetence and corruption, and to take care of his parents, who will probably be in a very difficult situation…but for sure we [Russian military forces in Ukraine] will be victorious.” Zemtsov’s final post, placed on his blog late on Wednesday, was a photograph of a military cap with a Russian Federation flag, and a military shoulder badge saying “As you are leaving, kill them all.” Stefan Korshak is the Kyiv Post Senior Defense Correspondent. He is from Houston Texas, is a Yalie and since the mid-1990s has worked as correspondent/photographer for newswire, newspapers, television and radio. He has reported from five wars but most enjoys doing articles on wildlife and nature. You can read his weekly blog on the Russo-Ukraine War on Facebook, Substack and Medium. His new book on the 2022 Siege of Mariupol is available on Amazon UK and Amazon US .