Melkonyan sends 'gift' to Zelensky with Grad salvo

Arsen Melkonyan, a Volgograd resident who was convicted after a «quarrel in a parent chat» and later pardoned for participating in the special military operation in Ukraine, has again gone to the front line. He reported this in a conversation with a V1.RU correspondent.

While free, the man started a personal blog on social media, where he continues to insist he is right. Recently, new photos and videos appeared on Arsen Melkonyan«s page, including one where he sends a »gift« to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with 40 shells from a Grad multiple rocket launcher system.

Recall that in March 2022, Arsen Melkonyan was sentenced to 11 years in a strict regime colony for murdering a realtor after a quarrel in a parent chat. A verbal conflict arose between the convict«s sister, Anush Melkonyan, and Roman Grebenyuk. A few hours later, at the central city office of Sberbank on Kommunisticheskaya Street, the woman»s brother Arsen and her husband Arman met with Roman. Arsen Melkonyan hit the realtor in the head. The man later died in the hospital without regaining consciousness.

However, after a short time, Arsen Melkonyan stopped participating in court proceedings. Voluntarily, at the call of his heart and Motherland, he signed a contract with the ChVK Wagner (the Wagner Group, a private military company) and went to the zone of the special military operation. In April 2023, his relatives and neighbors reported that the man had returned to Volgograd. A V1.RU correspondent went to Arsen Melkonyan«s house and tried to talk to him. Read what came of it here.

After Melkonyan«s return to Volgograd, within a month he was again in a pretrial detention center: he was accused of threatening the judge who had sentenced him and a Federal Penitentiary Service employee. The man was given 3 years and 2 months in a penal colony with a fine of 150,000 rubles (about $1,700 at current rates). The defense appealed the sentence and asked to acquit Melkonyan, but the regional court left the prison term unchanged and increased the fine to 250,000 rubles (about $2,800 at current rates).

In late May 2025, Arsen Melkonyan was released and started a blog on social media. Recently, a video appeared on his page where the man is smoking against the backdrop of a full salvo of 40 shells from a Grad multiple rocket launcher system. Judging by the snow, the footage was shot in winter. On his cap, Mr. Melkonyan clearly has a large red chevron with the inscription «Wagner» and the symbolism of the world-famous «musicians» (a reference to Wagner PMC fighters).

«Zelensky, this is a gift for you,» Arsen says in the video.

Arsen Melkonyan«s sister, Armine, said she is in contact with her brother but would not say where he is now.

«I«m working, running to the operating room, I don»t even have time to watch. I don«t know.»

«You are not in touch with him?»

«Well, why. He is my own brother.»

«If he is now in the combat zone, then relatives would probably know about it?»

«You know, unlike you, he spares our mental health. We communicate, everything is fine with us. It«s just that so much evil has been done to us that we don»t want to communicate. For many years, from your words, we were just the family of a tyrant. Although in real life you know nothing about us. I, of course, do not diminish what happened in Roman«s family. That grief is immeasurable. But our family... They plunged us into such filth that my mother was barely saved after that. It»s such a trauma for me, I don«t even want to discuss...»

The day before, Arsen Melkonyan posted another image with the inscription: «Christ above us. Earth under our feet. Barrels in our pocket. Forward, Christians!» The man with a rifle in his hands stands against the background of a chapel.

V1.RU correspondents managed to talk to Arsen Melkonyan. He said that he left the Volgograd region after the New Year holidays and has been for a month where «they shoot». At the same time, the man did not talk about his location or why he decided to go back to the front line.

«I was in Volgograd. I literally left from there during the New Year holidays. I decided that I will be here for now, and then, if I stay alive, I will go to Moscow to achieve the true truth, not the one that is said about me. Including the brass knuckles. That is a fabrication. I didn«t have any brass knuckles in my hands. There is even no mention of brass knuckles in my criminal case. If you slow down the video and look, you can see that I hit him once and without brass knuckles,» Arsen Melkonyan insists. «Everything I say is documented. I have all the documents.»