Robot rescues Ukrainian soldier trapped 33 days behind Russian lines, navigating minefields and mortar attacks

Ukrainian forces recently managed to rescue one of their own, a wounded soldier trapped for 33 days behind enemy lines, sending a coffin-shaped all-terrain robot to travel a dangerous route dodging landmines and drone attacks to recover him.

After six failed rescue attempts, the 1st Medical Battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces managed to rescue the soldier from territory occupied by Russia in the east of the country.

The remotely operated robot, which looks like an armored coffin mounted on the frame and wheels of an ATV, traveled a total of about 40 miles for the mission, nearly 23 of them with one wheel damaged after it hit a land mine. The mission lasted just under six hours, according to the battalion, which shared a video of the operation on social media this week.

“We received a request from an adjacent unit to try to evacuate their soldiers,” the medical battalion’s communications chief, Volodymyr Koval, told News themezone on Friday. “They had already made four attempts on their own, but they were unsuccessful. They turned to us because we had the right capabilities.”

The most important of those capabilities was the robot, a MAUL ground drone originally developed by the medical battalion precisely for the purpose of extracting injured or trapped soldiers.

“The soldier’s location was known, there was contact with him, food was airlifted to him, logistics were done by drones. We began to develop a plan for his evacuation and study the route,” Koval told News themezone. “Two attempts failed due to enemy mines and drones waiting on the ground in ambush on the roads. The seventh mission was successful, despite the drone hitting an anti-personnel mine.”

The robot caught up with the soldier, who climbed into the personnel capsule, lay down and locked himself inside. But the rolling rescue unit was attacked by a Russian drone on its way back to the battle line. The soldier survived thanks to the armored capsule.

Military medics provided first aid and stabilized the soldier as soon as the robot reached Ukrainian-controlled territory.

“The wounded warrior is now undergoing treatment and rehabilitation. His life has been saved,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video statement Thursday evening. He praised the troops of the 1st Medical Battalion for the operation and emphasized the importance of such life-saving missions and innovations on the battlefield.

“We will expand exactly this kind of technological backbone for our military: more ground robotic systems operating on the front lines, more drones of all types and increased deliveries of modern solutions that help achieve results in combat, in the provision of supplies for our combat units and in the evacuation of our wounded warriors,” Zelenskyy said.

Koval told News themezone it was not the first and likely would not be the last ground drone evacuation conducted by the battalion.

“This is simply a special story of perseverance that carries an important message for the military and society. We are actively trying to implement unmanned battlefield evacuation, directly from the combat contact line. This is the main task of our unit,” he said. “The evacuation is now very difficult due to the high density of the fire, which can be seen in the video. But every Ukrainian soldier should know that he will fight for him, that he will try to save him. This is what we wanted to show with this story.”

The MAUL robot used in the operation was originally designed by the 1st Medical Battalion, but is now manufactured and sold by Ukrainian defense company DevDroid, which bought the license to the design.

According to the battalion, the MAUL robot “is an evacuation platform powered by an internal combustion engine, allowing it to reach speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour (43 mph). It has a special armored capsule to protect the wounded and special metal wheels that do not contain air.”

DevDroid now sells the units for about $19,000 each.

Earlier this year, the Ukrainian National Guard’s 13th Khartia Brigade used a Zmiy-500 ground drone, a simpler robot that offers less protection to the person piloting it, to evacuate a wounded soldier while also delivering supplies to the front lines, according to a social media post by the brigade.

The drone covered more than 20 miles and completed the operation without incident, the brigade said.