Ukrainian Soldier Who ‘Stole’ Tank Rewarded by Russia: State Media

A Ukrainian soldier who “stole a tank” has received Russian citizenship after surrendering to Moscow’s forces along the eastern front lines earlier this year, Russian state media reported on Thursday.

The Ukrainian fighter—named by RIA Novosti, a Russian state-controlled news agency, as Maxim Likhachev—traveled in a Ukrainian T-64 tank toward Russian positions in the east of the country in May, according to Russian reports at the time.

In late May, Likhachev told Tass, a Kremlin-run state news agency, that he had left his location close to the Ukrainian town Avdiivka, which Moscow has controlled since February 2024, after months of bitter and casualty-heavy fighting. Ukraine’s military has frequently said the area around Avdiivka is one of the most fiercely contested sectors of the hundreds of miles of front line in eastern Ukraine.

“When everyone ran away, I took advantage of it,” the soldier told the Russian news agency, which described the Ukrainian fighter as having “defected.”

“We had been preparing all this for a long time: Both I and the guys on the other side were waiting for the right moment,” Likhachev said.

Likhachev told state media that he had become friendly with several Russian citizens during a stay in Poland between 2021 and 2022. They had advised him to leave his position with Ukraine’s forces on the battlefield in an armored vehicle, Tass reported.

Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian military for comment via email.

According to state media, Likhachev was born in the city of Sorokyne, southeast of the city of Luhansk and close to the border with Russia. He later moved to the city of Svatove, also in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.

Luhansk is one of the regions Moscow has annexed, although this is not internationally recognized, and Kyiv has vowed to reclaim these areas. Russia has long backed separatist fighters in the Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk region, collectively known as the Donbas.

Russian forces have controlled Svatove since the early weeks of the war, and fighting has raged west of the city in the two years since.

Russia’s RIA news agency reported on Thursday that Likhachev had received a Russian passport. In June, Russian media reported that the Ukrainian fighter had applied for Russian citizenship, which was expected to be finalized within a few weeks.

The soldier was looking for “a new life,” he told RIA. “Everything will be fine.”

Russian authorities and media have periodically said Ukrainian fighters have defected to Moscow’s side. Kyiv has also said Russian soldiers have switched allegiance, including Russian pilot Maxim Kuzminov, who was found dead in Spain earlier this year.