Ukraine's military says it has carried out the first evacuation of a wounded soldier from the front line by aerial drone, after a ground rescue was judged too dangerous. The 92nd Separate Assault Brigade released video of the operation on Monday and described it as a "world first".

The footage shows a heavy hexacopter, a drone with six rotors, descending to the ground. A man in combat gear fastens himself to a winch on board and is then lifted into the air. The brigade's drone unit said the soldier was surrounded by landmines and that Russian drone activity in the area was high, which ruled out a rescue on foot. It said the remotely piloted aircraft kept stable throughout what it called a "very difficult" operation. According to the brigade, the man survived, is undergoing treatment and rehabilitation, and is no longer in danger.

The drone's manufacturer, Gurzuf Defence, identified the aircraft as an Ayudag-6 hexacopter. It said the soldier had spent almost a year and a half in a dangerous combat position and could not be reached by conventional means, adding that any attempt would have meant a deadly risk for a rescue team. The drone carried him to a safer position, where comrades met him and arranged his onward transport to hospital. The brigade did not say where the evacuation took place.

BBC Verify, the broadcaster's fact-checking unit, said it confirmed the identity of the military personnel in the video and found no signs of AI generation or manipulation. The claim of a "world first" itself comes from the Ukrainian side and has not been independently established, though France24 noted it is the first reported case of an aerial drone being used this way.

The operation matters because of how the war has changed the battlefield. Ukraine has long used unmanned ground vehicles to bring out wounded troops, but both Russia and Ukraine now rely heavily on drones in a war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 and is now in its fifth year. Military analysts describe the front line as a "kill zone", where constant surveillance and strikes mean neither side has a clear advantage and reaching the wounded can be lethal for rescuers. An airborne option could offer a way to retrieve stranded soldiers from places that are mined or under drone watch, although the sources do not say whether it will be used more widely.