Former international footballer, Aleksei Bugayev k!lled while fighting in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine

Bugayev played two matches for the Russian national team in the 2004 European championship and also played for Moscow sides Torpedo and Lokomotiv as well as other provincial sides.

Former Russian international footballer, Aleksei Bugayev, 43,  has been k!lled while fighting in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, the news about Aleksei’s death is true. It happened today,” TASS news agency quoted the player’s father Ivan Bugayev as telling the Sport24 news outlet.

RIA news agency quoted Bugayev’s agent, Anton Smirnov, as saying intense fighting had made it impossible to retrieve Bugayev’s body for burial.

Bugayev played two matches for the Russian national team in the 2004 European championship and also played for Moscow sides Torpedo and Lokomotiv as well as other provincial sides. He ended his career in 2010 at the age of 29.

Former international footballer, Aleksei Bugayev k!lled while fighting in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine

In September Bugayev was sentenced by a court in southern Russia to nine and a half years in prison on drug trafficking charges.He later declared his intention to sign up to fight in the Ukraine war.

Russia have been fighting Ukraine for nearly three years and Russian president Putin has been eager to recruit as many soldiers as possible amid an increasing amount of losses on the frontlines.