Ukraine conducts 'historic' drone evacuation of wounded soldier

A heavy drone carries a wounded Ukrainian soldier in an image from a video released by the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade on Oct. 19, 2026. Ukraine’s airlift of the soldier from the front line by drone is believed to be the first ever operation of its kind. (Courtesy of Ukraine’s 92nd Separate Assault Brigade)

Ukraine’s military says it used a modified large drone with six rotors to evacuate a wounded soldier from the front line in what it called a unique mission that made history.

In a video posted Monday by the Ukrainian Ground Forces, the soldier can be seen strapping himself into a carrier attached to the drone before being flown to an evacuation point. The post did not give the date or exact location of the evacuation.

“This is a historic event — the stage in evacuating the wounded,” said an unidentified squad leader and programmer with the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade’s Unmanned Ground Systems Company, which helped prepare the drone.

Ukraine’s military has said that it frequently evacuates wounded personnel using ground-based robotic vehicles. But Monday’s statement said such an operation was impossible because of intense drone activity and mined terrain in the area.

The soldier is now undergoing treatment and his life “is no longer in danger,” the post added.

The operation comes as the U.S. military tests similar capabilities on NATO’s eastern flank.

In a May simulation in northeastern Poland , the Army V Corps’ 2nd Cavalry Regiment participated in Flowcopter FC-100 drone experiments for medical evacuations, using a test dummy to simulate a casualty evacuation from the battlefield.

The demonstration was part of a broader Army effort under initiatives, such as Transforming in and Project Flytrap, to explore autonomous systems for medical evacuation and resupply on high-threat battlefields.

U.S. forces have also used unmanned systems in pulling personnel out of harm’s way. In June, a Navy drone boat retrieved two Army helicopter pilots after their Apache went down off Oman and carried them to a location where they could be transferred to a helicopter.

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