Ukraine War: Drone saves injured soldier from the front for the first time

This soldier is currently being rescued from a frontline area - via hexacopter. For the first time, Ukraine managed to fly an injured soldier out of a battle with Russian troops using a drone. And according to media reports, this covers 62 kilometers.

"We're ready."

“All right, take off.”

This video is intended to show the spectacular transport. Ukrainian land forces posted it on their Telegram channel on Monday. SPIEGEL has confirmed the identity of one of the soldiers seen in the video and found no obvious evidence of the use of AI.

The frontline area has been deliberately pixelated by the armed forces to protect the exact evacuation location. However, according to the military, the injured soldier was in an area threatened by landmines and Russian drones. A conventional rescue was therefore not possible.

The soldier spent around 500 days at the front. He has been injured since February and has only been cared for with the help of drone deliveries. The rescue flight took place at the beginning of October and lasted a total of one hour and 14 minutes.

“Welcome back to Earth!”

The soldier is now receiving medical treatment, but his injuries are not life-threatening.

Napalm, commander:

»An extremely complex operation, but very successful. I believe that in some way it will go down in history - at least in our unit's history for sure.

However: During the flight, the wounded soldier hung unprotected under a large and therefore clearly visible drone. According to the drone manufacturer, whether and under what conditions such operations can be repeated remains to be seen for safety reasons.