Ukraine Airlifts Wounded Soldier by Drone in 'World First' Battlefield Evacuation

Heavy-lift hexacopter drone like the one Ukraine used to airlift a wounded soldier from the battlefield

Ukraine has carried out what it calls the world's first aerial evacuation of a wounded soldier from the battlefield, using a heavy-lift drone to pull a fighter out of a frontline kill zone where any ground rescue would have been suicidal. The drone unit of Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade announced the mission on Monday, publishing video of the drone lowering itself to the ground while a man in combat gear fastened himself to a winch and was lifted into the air.

The soldier — identified by a Kharkiv military hospital as 49-year-old Kostiantyn — had spent about a year and a half holding a dangerous observation post in the Kupiansk sector and had lost both legs. Multiple rescue attempts failed: the ground was mined and Russian drone activity made it impossible for even unmanned ground vehicles to reach him. According to the hospital, Russian forces urged him to surrender over a loudspeaker; he refused, and drone manufacturer Gurzuf Defence supplied its Ayudag-6 hexacopter free of charge to fly him to safety, where comrades moved him on to hospital. His life is no longer in danger.

The operation marks a new chapter in drone warfare, where the same aircraft that once dropped bombs is now saving lives. Ukraine has long used ground robots for medical evacuation, but this is the first reported aerial drone rescue — a milestone in a war where drones now dominate both attack and survival.

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