Ukraine has shared a video showing what it says is the world’s first evacuation of an injured soldier from the frontlines by drone.
The “historic” mission comes just as Kyiv faces a dire turn in its relationship with Washington over the withdrawal of support in its fight against Russia.
Shared by the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade on Monday, the video shows the soldier strapping himself into a large drone and being flown at what appears to be relatively low altitude over blurred-out territory. The drone carefully lowers him down and the drone operator greets him with “Welcome back to the ground!” The video also showed blurred faces of drone operators who carried out the mission.
The post said the unidentified infantryman was wounded while at his position. “Due to intense enemy drone activity and the presence of landmines, evacuation using conventional unmanned ground vehicles was impossible,” the brigade said.
“At that point, the specialists in our unit took it upon themselves to attempt something that had never been done before: evacuating a serviceman using an aerial drone,” it added.
The craft used was a heavy-lift hexacopter, it said, originally designed as a bomber by a Ukrainian manufacturer. It looks about twice the size of the soldier in the video.
The specialists working on the mission had to ensure the drone could carry a human being without flipping over or swaying excessively, according to the unit.
The rescued soldier is currently undergoing treatment and rehabilitation, the brigade added. The squad leader and programmer with the brigade, only identified by his call sign Napalm, called the soldier a “hero” for agreeing to the mission, “having seen and heard the kind of machine that had arrived to get him.”
In a separate statement, Ukraine’s Ground Forces said its drone units are already conducting operations “that were recently considered science fiction.”
The war has increasingly become a technological arms race, with both Ukraine and Russia relying on drones to reduce human casualties.
The conflict has taken a severe toll on both armies, although neither side reports up-to-date numbers of those killed, injured or missing. Ukraine in particular has faced a severe shortage of manpower as it has tried to ramp up recruitment.
Ukraine had a major leap in drone technology this year, allowing it to limit Russian logistics in occupied territories as well as strike deeper inside Russia to target Russian oil refineries, commercial warehouses and data centers.
“This mission proves once again that Ukrainian service members, working in tandem with Ukrainian manufacturers, are setting global trends in the conduct of warfare,” the brigade’s statement added.
Despite hoping that its drone innovation would give it the upper hand at the negotiating table, Kyiv has faced pressure from the U.S. to halt its strikes on Russian oil sites after President Donald Trump signed a diesel deal with the Kremlin earlier this month.
Kyiv has since also reported gaps in intelligence sharing and restrictions on Elon Musk’s Starlink service that is crucial for its drone missions, battlefield communications and air defense.
The drone evacuation comes just days after Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi announced the Ukrainian government had approved an “experimental project” to use drones for medical logistics. Koretskyi said flights would require coordination with the military, and drones would be given a special status and would be identifiable in the air.
“During the war, moving medical cargo by road can cost critical time, especially for transplants,” he said. “Drones will be able to carry medicines, medical products, blood samples, and donor organs between hospitals, including from remote areas.”