Wounded soldier evacuated from Ukraine's front line by drone

Ukraine's army announced that a soldier wounded on the front line was evacuated from the battlefield by an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone). The army said it was the world's first drone evacuation carrying a wounded soldier from the front.

Play video: Wounded soldier evacuated from Ukraine's front line by drone

Ground access was not possible

According to the army's statement, the wounded soldier was surrounded by land mines and there was heavy Russian drone activity in the area, so a ground rescue operation could not be carried out. The soldier was carried by a "heavy"-class six-rotor drone (hexacopter) controlled remotely by an operator. The statement stressed that the vehicle kept its stability throughout the operation, which took place in "very difficult" conditions.

In the roughly 25-second footage, the soldier is seen seated in a harness attached beneath the drone, carried through the air at low altitude. It was reported that no sign of AI generation or manipulation was found in the footage and that the identity of the military personnel in the video was verified. After the operation, the operator called out to the wounded soldier, "Welcome back to earth." The soldier's treatment and rehabilitation are continuing, and his life is reportedly not in danger.

It was an extremely difficult but results-oriented operation. This is a historic event; it is the next stage in evacuating the wounded that you will all witness. We are now launching serious and systematic work so that such missions become routine.

Napalm, unmanned ground systems company programmer and unit commander in Ukraine's army

Drone project for medical logistics

The evacuation came a few days after the Ukrainian government announced it had approved an experimental project on using drones in medical logistics. Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskiy said transporting medical supplies by road in wartime conditions can cause delays. Koretskiy said drones could carry medicines, medical supplies, blood samples and donor organs between hospitals, including in remote areas.