Ukrainian troops rescue civilians using ground drone: Video of extraordinary operation
Photo: A ground robot helped rescue people in the Donetsk region (DevDroid)
The 21st Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment Kraken 1654 of the 3rd Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a civilian rescue operation in the Lyman direction using unmanned ground vehicles, according to the 3rd Army Corps.
Four elderly civilians, including an injured woman, requested evacuation assistance from one of the corps’ positions in a frontline town in the Lyman area of Ukraine’s Donetsk region. After receiving the request, operators of the unmanned ground vehicles launched a rescue mission.
The operation consisted of three stages:
- a ground drone picking up the civilians;
- crossing a river;
- evacuation to a hospital in Sloviansk.
The corps’ servicemen stressed that saving human lives remains their top priority. They also urged residents of frontline areas to evacuate in time for their own safety.
Унікальна операція «KRAKEN¹⁶⁵⁴»: НРК Трійки евакуювали чотирьох цивільних із зони бойових дій
— Третій армійський корпус (@ab3army) May 13, 2026
На одній з позицій Третього армійського корпусу у прифронтовому місті на Лиманщині четверо людей похилого віку звернулися по допомогу з евакуації. Операцію з порятунку розгорнули… pic.twitter.com/tSEZlo01q6
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said that Ukrainian forces had managed to take control of a Russian position using drones and unmanned ground vehicles without infantry involvement for the first time.
Notably, in Kupiansk, the Lava regiment of the National Guard’s Khartiia Corps used robots to successfully eliminate a group of Russian soldiers who took up positions in a house.
RBC-Ukraine also reported that Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said unmanned systems completed 50% more missions in March than in February.
