A wounded Ukrainian soldier thought he was going to die. Then a drone pilot flew 'like a ninja' to airlift him out.
Ukrainian forces pulled off daring rescues with a drone. Business Insider spoke with the drone pilot and one of the soldiers whose lives were saved.
Two Ukrainian soldiers were rescued from combat using a specialized StarGate drone in October. The drone, a heavy hexacopter with an enclosed stretcher, was flown by a drone pilot, KVN, of Ukraine's 475th Separate Assault Regiment. The first rescue involved a Ukrainian infantryman, Izyum, who had lost a significant portion of his left foot and was bleeding heavily.
Russian forces were closing in on Izyum's position, leaving him with no other escape route. The StarGate drone landed about 10 meters away from Izyum in tall grass beside a minefield. Despite the dangers, KVN helped Izyum into the stretcher capsule and lifted off. The rescue took 30 minutes, with the drone needing to land halfway on each leg due to limited range.
KVN described the mission as a daring, last-resort operation when battlefield conditions prevent all other evacuation methods. This was among the first casualty evacuation missions using drones in combat, marking a new concept being pioneered in Ukraine.
Written by urgent.news from Business Insider's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
