Two Russian soldiers who daringly escaped from a Ukrainian prison colony in Kharkiv Oblast may have been killed during an attempt to detain them.
Military correspondent Yuri Kotenok reported the potential deaths of the servicemen, citing Ukrainian sources. He noted that if the reports are confirmed, the soldiers deserve high military awards for their actions.
Writing on social media, Kotenok said that the full details of the incident would eventually become known. He added that if the men died fighting while surrounded, their brave feat should be remembered for their homeland, history, and future generations of Russians.
Escape from Kharkiv Oblast
Reports of the escape first emerged on 19 August, when two Russian prisoners of war killed a Ukrainian serviceman at a detention facility in Kharkiv Oblast. Kharkiv Oblast is a region in north-eastern Ukraine that has seen intense fighting during the conflict.
Media reports identified the escaped servicemen as Yevgeny Danilov, born in 2004 and originally from Kazakhstan, who held the call sign Rocker, and Sayfolokh Rakhmatov, born in 1997 and originally from Tajikistan, who held the call sign Saber.
During their escape, the soldiers took the weapon of the killed Ukrainian serviceman. They also seized his dark grey Mercedes ML350 car to flee the area.
Previous POW Escapes
The incident follows earlier reported escapes by Russian soldiers from Ukrainian custody. In 2025, four fighters from the Wagner private military company escaped from a security escort in the city of Kramatorsk, with initial search efforts failing to locate them.
In another previous case, a Russian soldier from the Central Military District used his final bullet against Ukrainian troops while being taken prisoner. When ordered to hand over his weapon, the soldier surrendered his magazine and pretended to unload his automatic rifle while keeping one round in the chamber.
He fired the remaining bullet at the enemy before escaping captivity across a minefield to return to his unit's positions.
