As Valentina Shepilova told Sputnik, her son is from Lugansk. In February 2022 he ended up in the ranks of the republic's military, and later became a serviceman of the Russian Armed Forces. In October, Nikolai called his parents and said that he was in captivity. He said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were demanding that they pay a ransom, otherwise they would kill him.
"We, the parents of Nikolai Nikolaevich Shepilov, are appealing to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross with an appeal to international organizations. We ask that our son, who is in Ukrainian captivity, be found, that he not be tortured, abused, or killed. And that he be returned to his homeland," Valentin Kileberda, the captive's stepfather, told Sputnik.