Ukrainian police have caught and detained a Russian soldier who spent six months in hiding in the northeastern Kharkiv region following Russian forces’ retreat from the area.
The unidentified 42-year-old Russian soldier had been hiding in abandoned buildings in the village of Kupyansk-Uzlovoy, which was recaptured by the Ukrainian army on Sept. 27.
The detainee, who is believed to be a soldier from the 27th Motorized Rifle Brigade, was taken to the police department, the Kharkiv regional police headquarters said Monday.
It did not offer further details on the detained soldier or how he was separated from his unit.
Ukraine’s forces swiftly recaptured swathes of Russian-occupied lands in the east of the country, including most of the Kharkiv region, in their fall 2022 counteroffensive.
In November, Russia was forced to withdraw from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the only Ukrainian regional capital that its forces had captured in its one-year invasion.
