Unique mission near Vovchansk: Russian POW forced to carry fallen Ukrainian warrior

"Bringing a fallen soldier home is our duty to him and his family, so his loved ones can say goodbye and bury him with the honors he deserves as a hero," the military said.

The battalion explained that the body of their fellow soldier was in an area where sending in an evacuation team would have been extremely dangerous. They conducted an operation on the outskirts of Vovchansk that lasted nearly 24 hours to recover the body.

First, a Russian soldier was captured using a Mavic drone equipped with a loudspeaker. The Russian was then led to the fallen Ukrainian soldier, and a Vampire drone dropped evacuation stretchers for the captive to use to carry the body out.

"The recovery of a single fallen soldier is made possible by the coordinated efforts of drone crews, command staff, the evacuation team, and infantry," the Volya Battalion said.

As previously reported, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Ukraine's Defense Forces thwarted Russian attempts to establish a foothold in northern Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region as part of Operation Veles.

ISW also reported that Ukrainian troops had destroyed a major Russian division during Operation Vivaldi.

Analysts say Russia's 144th Motor Rifle Division suffered such heavy losses that it effectively ceased to exist as an organized combat unit.