The 42-year-old serviceman had reportedly been hiding in abandoned buildings after liberation of Kharkiv

A Russian soldier who had reportedly been hiding for about six months in abandoned buildings after the liberation of the Kharkiv region has been arrested by Ukrainian police.

The soldier, a 42-year-old serviceman from the 27th Russian Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, was taken into custody on Monday as regional police officers patrolled villages in the Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi area.

Ukrainian general says it is using opportunity to kill as many Russian troops as possible and wear down its reserves

Fierce fighting is raging for control of the centre of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, forces from both sides of the conflict have said, as casualties continue to mount in the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia’s war.

Russia ratcheted up its efforts to take Bakhmut in early February after months of intense fighting around the town, and has since inched into the small city’s suburbs. Ukraine’s forces are now fighting off attacks from the north, east and south. Their only road out, to the west, is under Russian artillery fire.