Ukraine has shared a video of what it says is the world's first drone evacuation of a wounded soldier from the battlefield.
Footage of the rescue has been shared by Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade and shows the injured soldier strapping himself to the large drone before being lifted away by a large drone.
The post said the infantryman was wounded at his position and, "due to intense enemy drone activity and the presence of landmines, evacuation using conventional unmanned ground vehicles was impossible".
“At that point, the specialists in our unit took it upon themselves to attempt something that had never been done before: evacuating a serviceman using an aerial drone,” it said.
The brigade said the craft was a heavy-lift hexacopter, originally designed as a bomber.
The "historic" rescue comes amid the intensifying technological arms race between Russia and Ukraine, with both sides utilising drones to carry out strikes and in battlefield operations.
The video's release comes as Russia launched new attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, adding that Kyiv again received no early warning of the attack from partner countries that previously shared their intelligence.
Zelensky is grappling with recent moves in Washington that benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin, including waiving US sanctions on Moscow and signing a deal to import diesel from Moscow.
Moscow and Kyiv, meanwhile, were discussing the possible evacuation of the Russian-occupied front-line city of Oleshky in the southern Kherson region, where about 2000 people have been cut off from food and medical supplies for months, according to a Ukrainian human rights official.
US President Donald Trump says Washington hasn’t stopped providing intelligence to Kyiv. Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated that position Monday, saying he had no information about the previous night’s Russian attack.
Trump accuses Zelensky of not wanting the war with Russia to end. Washington's efforts to bring peace, meanwhile, have failed, including a recent truce covering energy infrastructure that Trump had demanded.
Help from Western allies has been vital for Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s bigger military, but fears have mounted that Trump may be turning his back on Ukraine.
Western analysts and officials say Putin believes that he can wait for foreign support for Ukraine to unravel and that Russia’s bigger military will then crush Ukraine’s resistance.
“Ukraine never wanted this war, and we have welcomed literally EVERY attempt by our partners to bring this war to a dignified end. We have responded positively to EVERY ceasefire proposal,” Zelensky said Monday on social media. “The reality is that the war continues, and it continues solely because of Russian strikes and Russia’s desire to drag this war out.”
Ukraine has held back Moscow's forces on the front line and has hit back with long-range strikes on oil refineries deep inside Russia that triggered fuel shortages.
St Petersburg oil facilities burn as Ukraine launches drones at Russia
The strikes came as tensions between Ukraine and Washington deepened, with Donald Trump criticizing Kyiv’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure and the prospect of further US sanctions against Moscow still uncertain.
Monday 7:45am
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- Additional reporting by AP
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