A robot rescued a wounded Ukrainian soldier from encirclement, overcoming minefields and shelling.

A robot rescued a Ukrainian soldier who had been surrounded for 33 days in territory captured by Russian occupiers. The ground drone navigated minefields and mortar shelling to retrieve the soldier, writes CBS News.

The Ukrainian armed forces recently managed to rescue a wounded soldier who had been trapped behind enemy lines for 33 days. They deployed a robot on a wheeled chassis, resembling an armored coffin. Dodging mines and drone attacks, it navigated a dangerous route to deliver the soldier to safety.

After six failed attempts, the 1st Medical Battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces succeeded in evacuating a soldier from Russian-occupied territory. The remotely controlled robot, resembling an armored capsule on an ATV frame, traveled approximately 50 kilometers, more than half the way with a damaged wheel after hitting a mine. According to the battalion, the mission took just under six hours; the unit posted a video of the operation on social media this week.

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"We received a request from a neighboring unit to help evacuate their soldier," said Vladimir Koval, the medical battalion's communications chief. "They had already made four attempts on their own, but to no avail. Then they turned to us because we have the necessary capabilities."

Chief among these capabilities was the MAUL ground drone, developed by the battalion specifically for the evacuation of wounded or trapped soldiers.

"The soldier's location was known, contact was maintained, and food was being airlifted to him—supplies were delivered via drones. We began developing an evacuation plan and studying the route," Koval explained to CBS News. "Several attempts were unsuccessful due to mines and enemy drones ambushed on the roads. The seventh mission was successful, despite the drone hitting an antipersonnel mine."

The robot reached the soldier, who climbed into the capsule, lay down, and locked himself inside. However, on the way back, the rescue vehicle was attacked by a Russian drone. The soldier survived thanks to the armored capsule.

Once the robot reached Ukrainian-controlled territory, military medics provided first aid and stabilized the soldier's condition.

"The wounded soldier is currently undergoing treatment and rehabilitation. His life has been saved," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a video address on Thursday, November 6. He emphasized the importance of such rescue missions and technological innovations on the battlefield and thanked the soldiers of the 1st Medical Battalion for the operation.

"We will scale up this very technological foundation for our army—more ground robotic systems on the front lines, more drones of all types, and increased supplies of modern solutions that help achieve results in combat, in supplying our units, and in evacuating wounded soldiers," Zelenskyy said.

Koval noted that this was not the first and probably not the last evacuation carried out by the battalion using a ground drone.

"This is a special story of perseverance that carries an important message for the army and society. We are actively implementing unmanned evacuation from the battlefield, directly from the combat zone. This is the main task of our unit," he emphasized. "Evacuation is currently extremely difficult due to the high density of fire, which is captured on video. But every Ukrainian soldier should know: they will fight for them, they will try to save them. By telling this story, that is precisely what we wanted to convey."

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

According to the battalion, the MAUL robot "is an evacuation platform powered by an internal combustion engine and capable of reaching speeds of up to 70 km/h. It is equipped with a special armored capsule to protect the wounded and metal wheels."

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DevDroid sells such devices for around $19,000 per unit.

As the brigade reported on social media, earlier this year, the 13th Charter Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine used a Zmiy-500 ground drone—a simpler model with a lesser level of protection—to evacuate a wounded soldier and also deliver supplies to the front lines.

According to the fighters, this model covered about 30 kilometers and successfully completed the operation.

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