The Russia-Ukraine conflict has significantly impacted the outbound student mobility of Russian students. This paper highlights and explains the positive role virtual student mobility can play in shaping and sustaining the international education aspirations of Russian students amidst the entangled geopolitical and financial crises. Drawing upon the Aspirations-Capabilities framework of migration, the notion of mobility capital, and different states of (im)mobility, the study analyses 16 semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with Russian students who participated in various forms of virtual mobility in 2020-2023. The findings reveal that virtual mobility can bolster Russian students' capacity to aspire to international studies despite the mobility-suppressing climate by acting as a 'rite of passage' en route to international education, increasing language confidence, and challenging media portrayals of hostility towards Russian students. The richness of the virtual mobility experience in terms of communication with foreign teachers and students plays a key role in activating this affordance.