Wounded Ukrainian soldier rescued by drone after eight days near frontline
Artem Lytvyn was flown to safety in a capsule beneath a heavy drone after repeated attempts to reach him by ground failed.
By Ricardo Brooks ·
A Ukrainian soldier stranded with a severe leg injury for eight days was evacuated from the Kharkiv frontline in a capsule carried beneath a large drone. Artem Lytvyn, 25, survived the 18-mile flight on 21 October after ground robots and a stretcher team were unable to reach him. He is recovering in a military hospital in Lviv following the amputation of his right leg at the knee.
Lytvyn had spent five days travelling with six fellow soldiers towards a forward position near the Russian border when he triggered a mine a few hundred metres from their destination. He applied two tourniquets to his injured right leg before comrades moved him into bushes alongside another wounded soldier, Siava. The explosion tore off Siava’s leg, and he died two days later.
Attempts by Lytvyn’s 129th Brigade to retrieve him repeatedly failed. Four remotely controlled ground robots became stuck amid rivers, muddy fields and woodland. A team of 10 soldiers carrying a stretcher covered only 11km in five days, roughly half the distance required. Persistent drone surveillance and attacks have made casualty evacuation increasingly difficult, even for armoured vehicles.
While he waited, drones delivered painkillers, cigarettes and food. Lytvyn said he could barely eat or sleep. He asked for a crutch in the hope of making his own way out, but collapsed when he tried to stand. His radio then brought news that rescuers were sending a much larger aircraft, a StarGate drone manufactured by Ukrainian company SkyFall, capable of carrying 150kg.
The aircraft had six rotors and a suspended evacuation capsule, a purpose-built arrangement that had not previously been used for such a rescue. Andrii, one of the pilots from the 475th Separate Assault regiment, also known as Code 9.2, said the team spent a week planning the route. Its size made it vulnerable to Russian attack drones and electronic jamming. An AI navigation module was intended to let it follow a mapped route if GPS was disrupted.
At about 3am, Lytvyn heard the aircraft approaching. Footage from its onboard camera shows him crawling towards it using his hands and uninjured leg. He climbed inside, lit a cigarette and shut the hatch, leaving his rifle and radio behind. “My biggest fear was being shot down,” he said.
Other Ukrainian drones accompanied the flight, including heavy Vampire drones that attacked known Russian positions to provide a diversion. After 20 minutes, the StarGate landed in a clearing, prompting applause in the control room. Soldiers carried Lytvyn into a cellar and treated his wound before a Humvee collected him around lunchtime. An ambulance then took him to surgery in Kharkiv, where he received a blood transfusion and underwent the amputation.
Lytvyn’s evacuation followed another drone rescue last month involving Kostiantyn Vlasenko, 49, who had spent 491 days at his position. Vlasenko travelled nine miles suspended from a harness beneath a different aircraft. A third soldier, 54-year-old Andriy “Donbas”, was rescued by drone last week. SkyFall plans to produce 1,000 StarGate drones a month by the end of the year.
In Lviv, Lytvyn has been visited by his girlfriend, Alyona, and younger brother, Nikita, who learned of his serious injury only after the evacuation. His immediate priorities are recovery and spending time with his seven-year-old daughter, Mia. “What happened to me is a miracle,” he said.
