Ukraine flies wounded soldier out by drone in claimed world first
Hexacopter built as bomber carried the infantryman after enemy drones and mines ruled out ground routes, Kyiv codifies drone medevac as Washington withdraws support
Images
Image: An injured soldier carried by a drone.
nbcnews.com
The unidentified infantryman was lifted out in a drone rescue mission after he was wounded at his position.Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade
nbcnews.com
Fires at an oil refinery in Moscow, following a reported Ukrainian drone strike, on Sept. 20.Reuters
nbcnews.com
A Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Kyiv on Tuesday.Genya Savilov/AFP; Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine / via Getty
nbcnews.com
Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade has released video of what it says is the first evacuation of a wounded soldier from the front line by air drone. A heavy-lift hexacopter, originally designed as a bomber by a Ukrainian manufacturer, flew the wounded infantryman at low altitude over terrain the brigade blurred out of the footage. As the machine lowered him to the ground, the operator greeted him with the words "Welcome back to the ground!"
The soldier had been wounded at his position, and the brigade said a ground-robot evacuation was impossible: enemy drones overhead, landmines underfoot. "The specialists in our unit took it upon themselves to attempt something that had never been done before," the unit wrote. They first had to establish that the aircraft could carry a human being without flipping over or swaying excessively; in the footage the hexacopter appears roughly twice the size of the man strapped into it. A squad leader and programmer known by his call sign Napalm called the soldier a hero for agreeing to board, "having seen and heard the kind of machine that had arrived to get him."
The improvisation is being written into policy. Days before the flight, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi announced a government-approved "experimental project" to fly drones on medical logistics missions, coordinated with the military. Ukraine's Ground Forces says its drone units are already conducting operations "that were recently considered science fiction," and the brigade's statement claims its soldiers and manufacturers "are setting global trends in the conduct of warfare."
The claim rests on a year of results. Ukraine's 2026 leap in drone technology has cut Russian logistics in occupied territory and pushed strikes deeper into Russia — oil refineries, commercial warehouses, data centers. Both sides lean on drones to reduce human casualties, and neither publishes current figures for its killed, injured and missing; Ukraine, facing a severe manpower shortage as it tries to ramp up recruitment, gets back every trained soldier it does not have to replace. The flight also landed in a particular political moment. Washington has withdrawn its support, Kyiv reports gaps in intelligence sharing and new restrictions on Elon Musk's Starlink, which its drone missions, battlefield communications and air defense depend on, and President Donald Trump signed a diesel deal with the Kremlin this month while pressing Ukraine to halt its strikes on Russian oil sites. Kyiv had hoped its drone innovations would strengthen its hand at the negotiating table. For now they are flying ambulance runs.
The brigade says the rescued soldier is undergoing treatment and rehabilitation. The aircraft that lifted him out was built to drop bombs.