Ukraine airlifts wounded soldier with drone in 'world first'

Ukraine has rescued a wounded soldier from the front line using an aerial drone, a Ukrainian army brigade said on Monday, describing the evacuation as the first of its kind.

The brigade published a video showing the drone lowering itself to the ground, before a man in combat gear fastens himself to a winch onboard and is lifted upwards.

The brigade did not say where the evacuation took place.

"The operation was successful – the wounded person was saved! He is now undergoing treatment and rehabilitation, and his life is no longer in danger," the drone unit of Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade said on Facebook.

The drone's manufacturer, Gurzuf Defence, said the man had spent almost a year-and-a-half in a dangerous combat position and was unable to be rescued by conventional means.

"Any attempt to reach him would have meant a deadly risk for the rescue team," it said.

The drone, an Ayudag-6 hexacopter, "brought the wounded man to a safer position, where he was met by comrades who arranged for his onward evacuation to a hospital," it added.

Ukraine has long used unmanned ground vehicles to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield, but this was the first reported instance of an aerial drone being used for the same purpose.

The 92nd Assault Brigade's drone unit described the operation as a "world first".

Both Russia and Ukraine have made extensive use of drones in the four-and-a-half-year war, which began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The extensive use of combat drones by both sides has turned the battlefield into what military analysts have described as a "kill zone" where neither side has a clear advantage.

Agence France-Presse