Ukrainian soldier describes evacuation by drone after eight days injured

A Ukrainian soldier who had been trapped near the frontline for eight days was evacuated in a capsule carried by a large drone, after ground rescue efforts failed to reach him. The aircraft landed beside Artem Lytvyn at about 3am on 21 October and flew him to safety on an 18-mile journey.

Lytvyn, 25, was heading towards a forward position in the north-eastern Kharkiv region with six comrades when he stepped on a mine a few hundred metres short of their destination. He said his rifle triggered the device. The blast severely injured his right leg; he applied two tourniquets and removed his boot. Another wounded soldier, identified as Siava, was also taken into cover and died two days later.

Lytvyn’s 129th brigade sent a remote-controlled ground robot, intended for supplies and casualty transport, but it became stuck. Three further robots also failed to get through. A 10-person stretcher team set out, but covered only 11km in five days, around half the distance to Lytvyn. Drones brought him food, cigarettes and painkillers.

He said he could not eat or sleep and managed only one night’s sleep during the eight days. With rescue seeming unlikely, he asked for a crutch, but fell when he tried to stand. Soon afterwards, his radio crackled with news that a “huge bird” was on its way: a StarGate drone made by Ukrainian company SkyFall, with a capsule suspended beneath six rotor blades.

The pilot, identified as Andrii, said members of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, also known as Code 9.2, spent a week planning the route. The conspicuous aircraft risked being attacked by Russian drones or jammed. It was fitted with an artificial-intelligence navigation module intended to keep it on a mapped route if GPS was disrupted, although the system’s ability to do so was described as theoretical.

Video from the drone shows Lytvyn crawling from cover and pushing himself towards the capsule using his hands and left leg. He said he climbed inside, lit a cigarette and shut the hatch, leaving his radio and rifle behind. “My biggest fear was being shot down,” he said.

Other drones escorted the aircraft on its 18-mile flight. They included heavy Vampire drones, which struck known Russian positions as a diversion. After about 20 minutes, the StarGate landed in a clearing, where Ukrainian soldiers carried Lytvyn to a cellar. An armoured Humvee later took him to an ambulance and an operating theatre in Kharkiv.

Surgeons gave him a blood transfusion and amputated his right leg at the knee. He was then transferred to a military hospital in Lviv, where he was recovering alongside other soldiers who had lost limbs. Lytvyn said he wanted to recover and spend time with his seven-year-old daughter.

The rescue followed other battlefield drone evacuations. Kostiantyn Vlasenko, 49, was carried from the frontline by a different type of drone the previous month after 491 days at his position. Andriy “Donbas”, 54, was also rescued by drone the previous week.

SkyFall plans to produce 1,000 StarGate drones a month by the end of the year. Andrii said he believed the aircraft could save dozens of lives, and perhaps hundreds. Lytvyn said the system should be developed further and that he had no regrets about serving near the edge of Ukrainian-held territory.

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