491 days in the grey zone and losing both feet: exclusive details of the first-ever aerial evacuation aboard a Heavy Shot drone

In October, Ukraine's defence forces carried out the first-ever medical evacuation of a wounded soldier using a heavy unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The soldier, a member of the 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade who goes by the alias Magura, was airlifted from the grey zone aboard a Heavy Shot Ayudag-6 drone. No evacuation vehicle had been able to get to the area for over a year.

The roads are heavily mined, and FPV drones prowl the skies, destroying anything that moves within tens of kilometres. The brigade spent over six months preparing the daring rescue operation, which brought together heavy and light quadcopters, ground robots, electronic warfare units and even artillery.

"I realised there was a person down there: I wanted to get him to safety as quickly and safely as possible," a drone pilot recalls.

Ukrainska Pravda has interviewed the soldiers behind the operation, the drone's developers and the wounded serviceman. Find out how troops from the 2nd Mechanised Battalion of the 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade, named after Kostiantyn Ostrozkyi, teamed up with neighbouring units to pull off the evacuation and make history.

The operation was made possible by the coordinated efforts of the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade, the 14th and 30th Separate Mechanised Brigades, and the 10th Army Corps.

491 days

Sadly, this story began quite some time ago. On 2 June 2025, Kostiantyn "Magura" Vlasenko, an infantryman with the 2nd Mechanised Battalion of the 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade, set off from the rear with a fellow soldier for their positions on the Kupiansk front, which were on the left bank of the Oskil River. In the grey zone, Magura initially took shelter in one spot. But when it flooded, he had to move into an abandoned building.

His brother-in-arms was killed while making his way to a fallback position. Then, on 14 February 2026, a Russian drone dropped a munition that wounded Magura in both legs. Faced with a fight for survival and having lost one of his feet, he amputated the other foot himself, leaving him unable to get out of his position on his own.

There was no way to drag him out overland: the Oskil River, dense minefields and relentless Russian drone patrols made the approaches impassable. The battalion tried to use a ground robotic system to evacuate him, but Russian forces spotted and destroyed it while it was still on its way. Infantry groups also failed to reach him. Russian drones filled the skies, and Russian infantry had infiltrated the area around his position, effectively sealing it off.

All this is further evidence that the "golden hour" – the crucial first 60 minutes after an injury, when prompt medical treatment can mean the difference between life and death – is becoming increasingly difficult to meet on the modern battlefield. Evacuating wounded soldiers is a dangerous mission in its own right, and one that becomes harder with every passing year.

Every four to five days, drones brought Kostiantyn food, cigarettes and sweets. He kept in touch with his brothers-in-arms by walkie-talkie. He held out in his position until his evacuation on 4 October.

It was Alex, the reconnaissance chief overseeing UAV operations for the 2nd Mechanised Battalion, who came up with the idea of evacuating the soldier by air. It took around six months to move from the initial concept to the flight itself. The military had conventional Heavy Shot bomber drones, but these were not up to the task. The soldiers instead turned to the newly developed Heavy Shot Ayudag-6, a heavy-lift drone that can carry up to 130 kg and is equipped with a cargo winch.

"We'd been using Heavy Shot bomber drones for a long time and had an established line of communication with Gurzuf Defence," Alex said. "When I found out they were testing the new Ayudag-6 heavy-lift drone, I went to them immediately with this unconventional task. The drone was still a work in progress, but the developers were immediately fired up by the idea."

Gurzuf Defence designed the drone primarily for frontline logistics, as a heavy-lift modular platform. However, the engineers ensured from the very beginning that it had enough thrust to lift a person. The drone underwent two years of testing, during which the company's chief developer, Oleh Hynda, became the first person to fly aboard the test model.

"We never intended this drone to be just for evacuations – it's a heavy-duty logistics platform," Pavlo Feldblium, co-founder of Gurzuf Defence, told Ukrainska Pravda. "But we always knew it might have to be used for a rescue mission in certain circumstances. To prepare for this operation, we brought in units with experience of evacuating people using ground robotic systems. It was their experts who configured the winch and the mounting systems."

The company spent several months fine-tuning the platform at the unit's request. Experts from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade's unmanned ground systems company then fitted the aircraft with additional equipment, and the 2nd Battalion's headquarters spent two months planning the operation. Around 15 military personnel were involved in preparing and planning the mission.

Pre-flight preparations took seven days. The military personnel worked out the flight routes, planned cover corridors and identified alternative emergency landing sites in case of a technical failure.

The evacuation drone was operated by Chornyi ("Black"), a squad leader in a mortar battery at the 2nd Mechanised Battalion of the 30th Mechanised Brigade. "I first got to know the Heavy Shot Ayudag-6 a week before the mission, when I took part in special training exercises. Until then, I'd only worked with standard Heavy Shot drones," he says.

The most dangerous part was hoisting the soldier, who had to attach himself to the cable on his own. The day before the flight, the drone delivered off-the-shelf mountaineering equipment and a phone loaded with a video explaining how to put on and secure the harness.

According to the plan, the soldier had to attach himself to the drone's winch with carabiners, sitting in a semi-reclined position. Any mistake when securing himself, or losing consciousness during the flight, could have sent him falling to the ground.

16 kilometres

Russian FPV anti-aircraft drones meant the cargo drone could not fly alone. Slow and bulky, with a payload suspended beneath it, it would be immediately spotted by Russian reconnaissance. The headquarters planned a diversionary manoeuvre to draw attention away from it.

Several formations helped provide cover for the operation. Alongside the 2nd Battalion of the 30th Mechanised Brigade, units from the 14th and 43rd Separate Mechanised Brigades took part, as did personnel and equipment from the 10th Army Corps. The day before the flight, the neighbouring units involved suggested putting it off because there was no fog. But the forecast showed no fog was expected any time soon, so the command decided to go ahead.

"We studied enemy drone activity to find the time when it was at its lowest. We decided to fly at first light, as night gave way to day," explains Alex, the battalion's reconnaissance chief.

The main diversion was carried out by Vampire heavy bomber drones, which flew into neighbouring sectors simultaneously to draw the attention of Russian anti-aircraft drone operators. The Russians shot down one Vampire, but the Heavy Shot Ayudag-6 carrying out the evacuation went unnoticed.

Alex spent 48 hours studying data on Russian assets around the planned mission area. Experts from the 3rd Army Corps also helped prepare the Ayudag's electronic warfare system for the flight.

An Autel quadcopter operated by the battalion provided visual cover for the Ayudag-6, giving the crew a pair of eyes in the sky. However, it struggled to keep pace with the faster evacuation drone. A Ukrainian Lucky Strike drone waited nearby, ready to ram any Russian reconnaissance or strike UAVs that appeared. As the aircraft carrying Magura returned, artillery from the 10th Army Corps delivered concentrated suppressive fire against the identified launch points used by Russian drone operators.

Headquarters had a backup plan in case the drone malfunctioned or was shot down over the left bank of the Oskil River. Reconnaissance teams and ground robot crews were standing by near the designated emergency landing sites, ready to respond.

The Heavy Shot Ayudag-6 relied on Starlink for communications, which kept Russian electronic warfare systems from jamming it. No interference was detected on the control links. The drone's altitude was adjusted to suit the terrain, and it took a different route back to prevent the Russians from identifying its outbound flight path.

The drone was in the air for less than an hour and a half. The operator spoke to the wounded soldier through the drone's onboard camera and microphone.

The drone could not cover the full 16 km on a single charge: carrying a person drained its batteries too quickly. Two ground support teams were deployed along the route in advance to provide the necessary support.

"On command, I flew to a waypoint, where the team changed the batteries. Then I continued to the evacuation point, picked up the wounded soldier and flew him back," says Chornyi, who piloted the evacuation drone.

At the transfer point, the wounded soldier was detached from the winch. The next leg of the evacuation was carried out by a Peacemaker ground robotic system, as using vehicles would have risked exposing the operation to the enemy.

The troops camouflaged the platform and laid mattresses in its cargo compartment. The remotely controlled Peacemaker then covered another 8 km off-road. Once in a safe area, the team transferred Kostiantyn to a vehicle and took him to a frontline stabilisation point for emergency surgery. The Heavy Shot Ayudag-6 returned to base intact after a battery change at a stop along the route.

Kostiantyn told Ukrainska Pravda: "The flight went smoothly. I spent most of the time looking at the terrain below. When I landed, I felt safe and relieved – I'd finally be able to see my family soon. A special thank you to my unit clerk, Livsha, for keeping me well supplied with treats."

Despite the soldier's calm assessment, the actual flight revealed issues that had been difficult to anticipate during training with a dummy load. He had not been given protective goggles, so the powerful airflow beneath the rotors and the headwind caused discomfort. However, this did not detract from the mission's overall success.

Alex also credited Kostiantyn's calmness during boarding with helping make the mission a success. He had to get onto the drone in an open area while its rotors were spinning above him.

"The soldier was exceptionally quick-thinking and determined to survive," he said. "We had already dropped off his equipment and instructions. When the quadcopter approached, he did everything exactly as instructed, as quickly as possible. There was no panic or hesitation – the whole thing took just seconds and went exactly to plan."

The future of aerial evacuation

One successful operation does not make aerial evacuation a regular option, nor can it replace ground-based evacuation. Missions like this require extensive preparation and coordinated support from multiple units. This operation involved reconnaissance, artillery, decoy-drone crews and ground teams. Without them, the aircraft carrying the wounded soldier would have been shot down by the first Russian interceptor drone on its way.

The drone's developers take a similar view. Gurzuf Defence says the risks to a casualty's life during flight are simply too high for aerial medical evacuation to become standard practice.

"We don't see aerial evacuation becoming routine," says Pavlo Feldblium, co-founder of Gurzuf Defence. "When people talk about thousands of such missions or suggest that drones could help meet the 'golden hour', I think of the science fiction of Ray Bradbury or Stanisław Lem. You can't launch an operation like this on the spur of the moment. Every mission is unique and has to be planned around the specific conditions on that section of the front line. It's important to understand that this is always a last resort."

The experience of rescuing Magura, however, has prompted changes to drone development. Gurzuf Defence has decided to equip its mass-produced Heavy Shot Ayudag-6 logistics drones with the technical modifications and mounting kits needed for emergency evacuations, enabling them to be used for rescue missions when necessary.

The company stresses, however, that the evacuation equipment will not necessarily be used on every flight: the drone remains primarily a logistics platform. The developers are also working on entirely new variants of the platform with a substantially higher payload capacity.

The operation has shown that wounded soldiers can be evacuated by air even if they cannot walk and are stranded in remote positions. Other manufacturers are also exploring this capability. SkyFall recently unveiled its StarGate evacuation drone.

This evacuation, carried out by the 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade and the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade, has proved the viability of the concept and highlighted the urgent need for an evacuation method that can be used when all other options fail. Magura's rescue has set a precedent for saving lives in situations where conventional evacuation is impossible.

Kostiantyn "Magura" Vlasenko, who held a position on the left bank of the Oskil River for 491 days despite losing both feet, has been nominated for the title of Hero of Ukraine.

After Magura was evacuated to the rear, the commander of the 10th Army Corps visited him in hospital and personally presented him with the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, 3rd Class. The infantryman had been awarded the order in May, while still holding his position. Soldiers from the 2nd Mechanised Battalion of the 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade, who planned and carried out the aerial evacuation, have also been nominated for state awards.

Representatives of Gurzuf Defence – the manufacturer of the very Ayudag-6 that flew him out of hell – also visited Magura in hospital.

Yurii Denysiuk

Translated by Artem Yakymyshyn

Edited by Susan McDonald