Civilian was held in basement for 36 days without food or water: SSU has charged two captured occupiers
The Security Service and the Public Prosecutor’s Office have gathered evidence against two Russian military personnel who abducted and imprisoned a civilian from the Kharkiv region during fighting in the north of the region in April 2026. The perpetrators held him in the basement of a seized building for 36 days and threatened to kill him if he attempted to escape.
This has been reported by Censor.NET, citing the press office of the SSU.
During a counter-offensive, Ukrainian troops rescued the victim and detained both Russian invaders. The suspects are currently in custody.
These are servicemen from the 128th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 44th Army Corps of the Leningrad Military District of the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces – Denis Agapov, call sign ‘Nizhny’, and Roman Sokov, call sign ‘Zefir’.
As the investigation revealed, this spring they, as part of armed groups from the aggressor country, attacked a border village in the Chuhuiv district.
36 days in a cellar without food or water
"The perpetrators then seized a private property and illegally detained a local resident in the building’s basement. There, the man was left for a long period without food or water, proper sanitary conditions or access to fresh air," the statement reads.
Whilst inside the seized building, the Russian invaders hoped to wait for the arrival of additional Russian army units...
But that did not happen. The Ukrainian defence forces drove the Russians out of their positions, rescued the victim and took both suspects prisoner.
Suspicion
- Investigators from the Security Service informed Agapov and Sokov that they were under suspicion under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (war crimes, in particular the cruel treatment of the civilian population).
- The perpetrators face up to 12 years’ imprisonment.
