Injured Ukrainian soldier evacuated from the front line by purpose-built rescue drone
Ukrainian soldier Artem Lytvyn was evacuated from the front line in the Kharkiv region on 21 October by a large StarGate drone. According to the report, it was the first rescue of this kind using a purpose-built evacuation drone.
Artem Lytvyn, a 25-year-old soldier of Ukraine's 129th brigade, was evacuated overnight on 21 October from a dangerous position in the north-eastern Kharkiv region by a large StarGate evacuation drone. The source says a rescue with a purpose-built unmanned vehicle had not been attempted before. It shows how, in the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion, getting wounded troops off the front line has become a major problem, and how new technology is being used to address it.
A mine near the Russian border
Lytvyn and six comrades had spent five days trekking to the position, dodging drones and killing two Russians in a foxhole along the way. A few hundred metres from their destination he stepped on a mine and badly injured his right leg. Another platoon member, Siava, lost a leg in the same blast and died two days later.
Evacuation on the ground proved impossible. The front is heavily surveilled, and constant drone attacks mean even armoured vehicles can no longer be used. Four land robots got stuck in difficult terrain, and a 10-person stretcher party covered only 11km in five days – half the distance required. Lytvyn waited eight days, with comrades dropping painkillers and food by drone.
The StarGate rescue
The drone, made by the Ukrainian company SkyFall, can carry a 150kg payload and has a capsule suspended beneath it. Pilot Andrii of the 475th Separate Assault regiment (Code 9.2) helped plan the route for a week. The drone carried an AI-based navigation module so it could keep to its route if GPS was jammed. Other drones bombarded known Russian positions as a diversion.
Lytvyn climbed into the capsule and covered the 18-mile route in about 20 minutes. He was then taken to Kharkiv, where surgeons amputated his right leg at the knee. He is now recovering in a military hospital in Lviv.
What comes next
SkyFall plans to produce 1,000 StarGate drones a month by the end of the year. Earlier in October, 49-year-old Kostiantyn Vlasenko was airlifted from the front line by a different drone, and another soldier was rescued last week.
