On the night of December 27, Nikitin, along with part of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), carried out a combat mission in the Zaporozhye region. According to preliminary reports posted on the corps' social media, he was hit by a suicide drone.
Denis Nikitin, formerly named Denis Kapustin, had been living in Ukraine since 2017. When the Russian invasion began, he signed up as a citizen of the Russian Federation to defend Kiev and sent his Ukrainian wife and child abroad, thinking, in his own words, that Ukraine would be overrun in a matter of days and he would fall in battle.
Over time, he began to serve on the front along with other Russians, but they did not have unit status. Eventually, in cooperation with Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, he obtained the status of a separate unit for the Russians in the ranks of the Ukrainian army.
Thus, on 11 August 2022, the Russian Volunteer Corps (Русский добровольческий корпус) was officially established.
Under Nikitin's command, it has long pursued two main goals: the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity and the "overthrow of the current regime in the Russian Federation." The unit's motto is "We will take back our homeland!"
He also became known to outsiders for his interviews with captured Russian soldiers who wanted to join his unit. Before the war, he was known for founding White Rex, a Russian sportswear brand, and for organizing matches of nationalist groups across Europe.
"He became our real brother and comrade in arms in the war. He gave his life fighting in the Zaporozhye region for the liberation of Ukraine and his homeland. We will avenge you, my friend," the Third Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote in response to Nikitin's death.