A former pupil at a Scottish high school has been killed in action on the frontline in Ukraine.

Arkadii Petrov and his family moved to Dumfries and Galloway when he was a teenager, following Russia's invasion in 2022.

He attended Kirkcudbright Academy before returning to Ukraine to fight and was killed in action in the east of the country.

His mother, Liudmyla, said he was "funny, bright, very charismatic and full of life" and had been an "incredibly loving brother" to his younger sisters and brother.

She said the family had been told on 22 September that her eldest son had been killed in a combat mission on 18 September - just two days before he would have turned 21.

As well as attending Kirkcudbright Academy, he also went to the University of Edinburgh for a year before interrupting his studies to return to Ukraine.

"Ukraine was the country he loved more than anything," said his mother.

"As the war continued, I could see him becoming more serious.

"He followed everything that was happening in Ukraine very closely and felt that he could not simply continue his normal life while other Ukrainians were defending the country where he was born."

He worked as a combat medic and drone operator and was wounded on a number of occasions in battle.

"Arkadii was sincere, brave and very honest - he had no falseness in him," said Liudmyla.

"But to us he was never only a soldier or his call sign, Arka.

"He was our Arkadii - my son, a brother, a grandson, a young man with books, music, jokes, dreams and an entire life that should have been ahead of him."

She said he adored his sisters, Avrora and Kapitolina, and his younger brother Aaron.

"Wherever he was, he carried his family with him," added his mother.

After his death, the family travelled from Scotland to Ukraine to arrange his funeral.

"The hardest thing for me is knowing that I will never again see his living face, hear his voice or hold him," said Liudmyla.

"I also grieve for the future he was meant to have - his dreams, his family one day, the children he might have had."

However, she said she was also "enormously proud" of her son.

"He loved Ukraine more than anything, and he gave his life defending its freedom," she said.

"I want people to remember not simply that another young soldier died in Ukraine, but that Arkadii was a whole person, deeply loved, with a family, a childhood, a future and dreams.

"He was our son, our pride, and I want his name and his life to be remembered."

Peter Kormylo, archivist at the Ukrainian Prisoner of War chapel in Lockerbie where Petrov attended services, said the whole community was upset by the death of a young man.

He described Arkadii as a "very pleasant young man" who had arrived in Scotland with his mother and three younger siblings - one brother and two sisters.

However, he said he had always been keen to go back to Ukraine and fight.

"All I can say about the boy is, having met him on a few occasions, he was a very courteous young man and quite a serious young man," he said.

"The last time I remember him being at the chapel I found him, when everyone had gone, sitting in the chapel writing a couple of what looked like letters - but in actual fact were prayers.

"He was a deep thinker and obviously felt the need to do what many Ukrainians are doing and that's fulfill their patriotic duty."

Kormylo said Arkadii's death was sad news for the wider Ukrainian community in the south of Scotland.

"He came here, at 16 or 17 years old with his mother, they were refugees," he said.

"They didn't know what the future would bring, but he did believe in Ukraine's eventual victory.

"He was a teenager maturing here and obviously gathered his own thoughts and decided to make a very adult decision.

"So the community is quite upset, as you would guess, everyone feels this pain."

Anthony Tuffery, rector at Arkadii's old school, said everyone at Kirkcudbright Academy was saddened to hear of his death.

"Although he was only at the school for one year to complete his S6 studies, he was a polite, respectful and hardworking young man," he said.

"We would like to pass on our deepest sympathies to his family and friends and our thoughts are with them at this incredibly difficult time."