‘There Was Hell in My Chest’: HUR Drones Rescue Poisoned Soldiers from Captivity

Ukrainian military intelligence operators carried out a rescue operation on the Zaporizhzhia front, freeing their comrades from Russian captivity on the battlefield.

“The Thriller from the Zaporizhzhia Front - special forces of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) rescued their brothers from the occupiers’ captivity right on the battlefield,” read the caption of a video published on Telegram by the agency.

According to HUR, three fighters from the “Artan X” unit - a subdivision of the “Artan” special intelligence group - set out on a sabotage and reconnaissance mission targeting positions of Russia’s 247th Airborne Assault Regiment.

During the mission, the soldiers – with the call signs Ketz, Anubis, and Klyuchyk – encountered a group of Russian paratroopers and engaged in close combat on open ground.

The Russians reportedly deployed an “unknown chemical substance,” which incapacitated the Ukrainian soldiers and caused them to be captured.

The Russian troops began withdrawing, taking the captured Ukrainians toward enemy lines, but their movements were being tracked by HUR aerial reconnaissance.

The commander of “Artan X,” call sign Favorit, said that once the Russian group first reached cover, “Artan” fighters and supporting units launched FPV drone strikes to rescue the captured soldiers.

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This powerful incident was captured on video shared by HUR, although Kyiv Post could not independently verify the footage’s location and time.

According to the HUR commentary, Ketz used the chaos after the first Russian was eliminated to escape, hiding inside a ruined building.

“There was so much hell burning in my chest from the gas they poisoned us with. When our FPVs flew in - it was an incredible feeling. I’m so grateful to my brothers for not leaving us to our fate,” HUR reported Ketz as saying.

Drone operators then eliminated the two remaining Russian soldiers. The last paratrooper tried to hide under an old truck, but a Ukrainian kamikaze drone flew under it, detonating in an explosion also captured on video.

Afterward, a reconnaissance drone guided the two surviving Artan X fighters with instructions from their commander to withdraw from Russian-controlled territory.

Footage shows Ukrainian forces monitoring the evacuation via drone camera, advising their comrades when to sprint across an open field.

Over the radio, one Ukrainian warned nearby units not to fire on the evacuees: “They’re ours, they’re ours - no fire.”

The third captured Ukrainian returned to friendly positions several hours later, HUR said.

“These kinds of epic stories raise morale. What the drone operators of Artan and other Security and Defense Forces did was next-level skill – pure expertise. We will fight for our own to the end,” Favorit said.

HUR added that the rescued soldiers returned with captured weapons and valuable intelligence. They are currently receiving treatment for chemical burns.

In late April, Ukrainian border guards freed three captured Ukrainian soldiers using drones and precision strikes. Reconnaissance drone operators spotted Russian troops escorting the prisoners after which UAV crews from the 1st Separate Tank Siver Brigade arrived to assist.

Video shows a drone dropping explosives, wounding one Russian soldier and scattering the rest. The Ukrainian captives then follow a drone back to friendly lines.

“Coordinated actions and precise drops forced the enemy to flee and abandon the prisoners. Our drones then guided them to safety,” Ukraine’s Border Guard Service reported.

This wasn’t the first time drones have guided captives home. In January 2024, Ukraine’s 95th Airborne Brigade shared footage of a drone leading a freed POW from a trench.

The drone operator, call sign Kevin, used the drone’s lights to signal the soldier, then guided him to safety – dropping a grenade to neutralize a Russian soldier who tried to stop him.