An injured Ukrainian soldier stuck behind enemy lines for days was rescued after being delivered an e-bike by a drone.
A video of the dramatic rescue showed a UAV drone airdropping the 40kg bike down to the wounded man, who was surrounded by Russian forces, before he cycles away.
The soldier’s Rubizh brigade said three men were killed by enemy fire during a skirmish in Siversk, northern Ukraine, leaving the soldier on his own for five days.
In a video the soldier, call sign “Tanker”, said: “Our drones covered us from above as best as they could. Then they threw two gas cylinders straight into our hole and a lighter. We caught fire.
“Every day, I was surrounded, from all sides. I fought back as best I could.”
Brigade commander Mykola Hrytsenko explained the challenges they faced in trying to rescue their stranded comrade.
“The enemy was in front, behind, and on both flanks, completely surrounded,” the commander said. “It was impossible to drive up with equipment because the enemy was everywhere. He couldn’t get out on his own either, because he had to walk 1.5km to the nearest position.
“In his condition, with his injuries, he simply wouldn’t have made it.”
The brigade then came up with the bold plan to deliver a vehicle to him by drone.
The first two attempts to fly the bike in failed, with Russian forces shooting the first out of the sky and the second crashing.
They managed to get the bike to the soldier on the third attempt – but his ordeal was not over yet.
After fleeing 400m he hit a remote mine. Tank limped a further 200m with a leg injury before he was rescued. A second e-bike was then delivered, which he rode for 15 minutes to an evacuation point.
“To carry out this operation, they had to calculate the right time of day, the right weather conditions that would allow him to do it,” Cmndr Hrytsenko added.
Reports of the rescue effort emerged after Vladimir Putin’s forces launched a wave of missile attacks on the capital Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, killing 16 people, including a six-year-old boy and his mother.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged his allies to bring about “regime change” in Russia following the attack.
“If the world doesn’t aim to change the regime in Russia, that means even after the war ends, Moscow will still try to destabilise neighbouring countries,” he said.
“Today the world has once again seen Russia’s response to our desire for peace … Therefore, peace without strength is impossible,” the Ukrainian president added.
