Wounded, Surrounded – AFU Soldier Saved by E-Bike Delivered by Drone

Video footage posted on YouTube by the Rubizh Brigade’s 4th Freedom Force Battalion showed how they engineered the rescue of an injured Ukrainian soldier stranded for several days behind enemy lines.

The footage shows an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) winching an e-bike down to the injured soldier before he speeds away toward friendly units.

According to the post, the soldier, identified only by his call-sign “Tanker”, was part of a four-man patrol operating near the Donetsk region’s town of Siversk that was ambushed by Russian troops. His three companions were killed, he was wounded in the legs and was unable to make his escape.

Mykola Hritsenko, a spokesperson for the brigade, said an attempt to rescue the wounded soldier would risk the safety of other personnel.

“It was impossible to drive up with equipment because the enemy was everywhere. He couldn’t get out on his own either, because he would have to walk 1.5 kilometers [a mile] to our nearest position – in his condition, with his injuries and lower limbs, he simply wouldn’t have made it.”

The narration over the 16-minute video says that he was trapped for nearly five days and faced repeated attacks from Russian infantry but was covered by Ukrainian drones who prevented him from being overrun. They said during that time a “platoon’s worth” of the enemy was taken out – the whole series of incidents was watched on screens at brigade headquarters.

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In a solution that yet again epitomizes Ukraine’s “out of the box” thinking, someone from the formation headquarters came up with the idea of delivering a means of escape using a “Baba Yaga” drone – more usually used to drop bombs on Russian positions – to deliver a 40-kilogram (88-pound) electric bike.

The rescue attempt and Tanker’s “Steve McQueen-style” rush to freedom was captured on video by drones that had been carrying out overwatch on his position. It was not plain sailing, by any means. The first two tries failed – the first drone was shot down and the second suffered a technical failure, probably because the e-bike proved too heavy.

On the third attempt the bike was delivered safely and Tanker sped off. Even then he was not yet home and dry. After traveling less than a kilometer, a few hundred yards, the e-bike hit a landmine destroying it and throwing Tanker to the ground – fortunately he only suffered minor injuries.

He then picked himself up and was able to limp the remaining couple of hundred meters where he was met by his comrades who gave him another e-bike – that had also been delivered by a drone – that he was then able to use to finally reach a Ukrainian-held area where he could be evacuated from the battlefield.

Reports on the use of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) – tracked or wheeled drones – for logistic support including casualty evacuation are becoming increasingly common:

Several Western nations are thought to be developing UAVs big enough for use for casevac on the battlefield, such as the UK’s Malloy T400, and Germany’s Avilus “Grille” drone. In the absence of such a Ukrainian capability the Rubizh Brigade came up with this innovative solution, although it is unlikely to become a “standing operating procedure” any time soon.