Overview

• At the Valdai forum in Sochi, Putin detailed how American citizen Michael Gloss trained with Russia’s VDV, fought on the front line, and was killed near Chasiv Yar.
• He described a BTR being hit, Gloss trying to aid a wounded comrade, and a Ukrainian drone dropping what he called an “82-centimeter” munition that killed both.
• Putin said many Americans could be proud of Gloss and labeled him a Russian soldier despite his U.S. citizenship.
• The president said Russia posthumously awarded Gloss the Order of Courage and that he handed the decoration to U.S. special envoy Stephen Whitkoff alongside Gloss’s commanders and comrades.
• Putin said Donetsk authorities named an English-focused school after Gloss and his fallen comrade Ivan Kokovin, with TASS and RIA Novosti publishing detailed accounts the same day.