72nd Mechanized Brigade

Then he heard the roar of the Ukrainian drone sent to guide him.

Inside an underground bunker several miles away, a group of soldiers from Ukraine's 72nd Brigade sat before a set of large screens.

They watched as the crosshairs of the drone's camera zeroed in on a small figure, colored white in the drone's thermal imaging lens, in stark contrast to the surrounding gray terrain.

Stupnikov emerged from a street flanked by damaged buildings and took his first step into no man's land.

His destination lay on the edge of a pond.

Inside the bunker, the Ukrainians were transfixed by the live feed of his passage.

He's so close now," one excited drone operator said as Stupnikov neared the tree line where the forward positions of Ukraine's 72nd Brigade were concealed.

Then suddenly, barely perceptible amid the trees and undergrowth like insects moving along a cauliflower bud, several tiny white figures popped up on the Ukrainian drone footage.

Ukrainian media are reporting that a Russian prisoner of war escaped from captivity and killed five Ukrainian service members in the Kharkiv area yesterday.

Around 4:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, we're told a man in civilian clothing is said to have approached a building housing members of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, opened fire, killing one Ukrainian service member, before entering the house and killing four others.

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office said an investigation was underway.

They confirmed that an unknown person killed five service personnel but did not identify any suspects as Russian prisoners of war.