After escaping from the camp in 1943, the posts claim, Kobytev rejoined the Red Army for the duration of WWII and then returned to artistic life in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

On May 22, 2020, a post by X user @Dr_TheHistories claimed to show the same Soviet soldier before and after serving in World War II. The post consisted of two photos stitched together into one ...

The photos show Евгений Степанович Кобытев (Evgeny Stepanovich Kobytev) and yes, it's the same man in both photos and yes, before and after his experiences during WW2. But ...