Ukraine carries out first ever aerial drone evacuation of a wounded soldier

Ukrainian forces executed what they describe as the first unmanned aerial evacuation of a wounded infantryman after he was isolated on the Kharkiv frontline, under threat from enemy loitering munitions and with surrounding ground routes mined. The soldier, callsign Kostya, strapped into a harness beneath a modified heavy hexacopter and was flown roughly 18 km to an evacuation point while a protective screen of smaller FPV kamikaze drones and quadcopters with throwable nets escorted the craft. The lift was piloted by Chornyi of the 30th Mechanised Brigade and coordinated by the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade’s unmanned systems unit; the operation is being hailed by commanders as a historic precedent and the wounded man is now receiving treatment and rehabilitation.

The platform, a Heavy Shot/Ayudag model built by Gurzuf Defence, was modified for human carriage and stability and can reportedly lift up to 130 kg (regularly carrying 90 kg up to 25 km). Gurzuf provided the drone pro bono, showed training runs using human-sized loads, and outlined other models - Immortal (advanced navigation), Zhvvyi (uses Starlink), and the mass-produced Ayudag-6 - plus bespoke variants for different units. Company representatives and brigade leaders emphasized the mission’s danger, the multi-drone layered defense that made it possible, and plans to industrialize and regularize such evacuations despite active enemy countermeasures.