Ukrainian forces execute unprecedented drone-based casualty evacuation

Vlasenko, a soldier with the 2nd Mechanised Battalion, had been stranded on the eastern bank of the Oskil River since early June 2025. Initially deployed with a comrade, he found himself isolated after their position flooded and his partner died. The terrain remained under constant surveillance, rendering traditional ground-based medical evacuation impossible.

In February, Vlasenko suffered critical injuries to both legs when a Russian drone dropped munitions on his position. Faced with the immediate threat of gangrene and total immobility in a hostile environment, he performed a self-amputation of his lower limbs. This harrowing decision allowed him to remain alive, though it left him entirely dependent on external support to escape the sector. Commanders eventually authorized the use of a heavy-lift drone, a tactical pivot that highlights the evolving role of unmanned systems in contested zones where conventional vehicles cannot survive.