An aerial escape after a ground rescue failed
An earlier effort to retrieve Vlasenko with a ground robotic platform ended when Russian forces detected and destroyed it. The successful aerial evacuation, publicly announced on October 19, used a Heavy Shot "Ayudag-6," a six-rotor aircraft made by Ukrainian manufacturer Gurzuf Defence.
Ukrainian troops sent up additional drones to cover the rescue flight. Russian forces shot down one of those aircraft, but the drone carrying Vlasenko made it across the Oskil River to the meeting point. Gurzuf Defence said the mission covered 62 kilometers, roughly 39 miles, and lasted about 75 minutes.
The operation took place near a military and transportation hub in northeastern Ukraine that Russia had spent months fighting to secure. Chosun Ilbo described swarms of drones from both sides targeting movement around Kupiansk, leaving neither side able to move freely through the "kill zone."
The Chosun Ilbo report highlighted this recollection: "I will never forget the roar of the drone that came to rescue me."
Months wounded at his position
Vlasenko, 49, serves with Ukraine's 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade. Before the war, he had no military experience and worked at a mining and processing plant, driving a 130-ton BelAZ truck.
He took up his combat position in the Kupiansk direction on June 3, 2025. A Russian strike wounded him in the leg in February 2026. Nashaniva reported that by April, necrosis had damaged his left foot so severely that it detached. He then amputated the damaged foot himself, using an ordinary blunt knife he usually used to open cans of meat.
A last resort, not a routine evacuation method
Gurzuf Defence co-founder Pavlo Feldblium warned against taking the rescue's success as a sign that drone evacuations could become routine. Wounded soldiers still face high risks, he said, and crews must prepare each operation for its specific location. He characterized aerial evacuation as a last resort when no other route is available.
AeroTime reported that earlier uses of unmanned aircraft for casualty evacuation had been limited to demonstrations. Lockheed Martin announced one involving an unmanned K-MAX helicopter in 2015; in 2016, the US Army documented another using a simulated casualty.
Vlasenko now faces rehabilitation and fittings for a prosthetic leg, according to the Kharkiv military hospital.
