The disgraced former mayor of Belgorod, who went off to fight after being convicted of bribery
Konstantin Polezhaev, the former mayor of Belgorod and deputy governor of the Belgorod Region in charge of housing and communal services, was dismissed in the Belgorod Region. After being convicted of bribery, he signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense and joined the local volunteer unit “Bars.”
The Telegram channel “Fonar,” which is close to regional authorities, reported Polezhaev’s death, citing the official’s relatives. According to the “Veteran’s Notes” channel, the former mayor was killed by a drone strike in the Belgorod region.
In 2024, Polezhaev signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense and joined the “Bars” volunteer unit, according to the Telegram channel “Pepel.” The unit was created to defend the region, and local officials, in particular, joined it.
One of “Pepel’s” sources claimed that Polezhaev was formally listed as serving in the military, but “in reality, he spends his time at home with his family.” At the same time, regional authorities denied that the former official was serving in “Bars.” “Fonar” claimed that Polezhaev was in the Luhansk region at least during the winter.
Polezhaev had headed Belgorod since 2015, after which he became the region’s deputy governor for housing and utilities. In 2023, he was detained in connection with a bribery case.
According to investigators, in 2022–2023, he received 17 million rubles and two luxury cars from the director of a construction company in exchange for facilitating the acceptance of work on the construction of wastewater treatment facilities in the Belgorod region.
In August 2024, the court sentenced Polezhaev to five years in a strict-regime penal colony and a fine of 36 million rubles. During the court hearing, the official stated that he was “ready to sacrifice his life” and announced that he had signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense.
In October of that same year, at the request of a military unit commander, the court suspended proceedings in his case.
As of 8:00 a.m. on September 22, the 1,672nd day of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine had begun. Over the past 24 hours, 248 combat engagements were recorded on the front lines.
As of September 22, 2026, the Ukrainian military had eliminated 1,230 Russian occupiers over the past day. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine updated the data on Russian troop losses.
Prior to this, 197 combat engagements took place on the front lines over the course of the day. The Pokrovsk sector remains the most active, where the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled 23 attacks by Russian troops, and the enemy lost more than 50 occupiers.
