President Awarded State Honors to the Servicemen of the 1st Separate Medical Battalion for a Unique Evacuation of a Wounded Warrior Who Spent 33 Days in Temporarily Occupied[...]

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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded soldiers and officers of the 1st Separate Medical Battalion of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the medals "For Military Service to Ukraine," "To the Defender of the Motherland," and "For Saved Life" for the operation they carried out to evacuate a wounded defender.

The serviceman spent 33 days after being severely wounded in a settlement temporarily under enemy control. He was successfully evacuated as a result of an operation codenamed "GVER," which involved the use of a ground robotic system.

"The servicemen conducted what was, in fact, a unique operation to rescue a wounded warrior - using a ground robotic system. There had been six unsuccessful evacuation attempts and extremely heavy Russian fire, but the seventh attempt succeeded - this ground drone of ours did help. The wounded warrior is now undergoing treatment and rehabilitation. His life has been saved," the Head of State said in his evening address.

The operation lasted nearly six hours. On the way to the wounded warrior, the ground robotic system hit an antipersonnel mine but was able to continue moving on a damaged wheel. On the return route, the ground robotic system was hit by a munition dropped from an enemy drone, but the warrior survived unharmed thanks to the armored capsule. In total, the ground robotic system covered 64 km, 37 km of which were driven on a damaged wheel.

For conducting the operation, the President awarded the medal "For Military Service to Ukraine" to Lieutenant Oleksandr Dziuba; Junior Sergeants Danylo Kutniak and Mykyta Nesterchuk; Captain Hennadii Novikov; Junior Sergeant Yaroslav Pliekhov; Soldier Kyrylo Sierykov; and Junior Sergeant Yurii Truniakov. The medal "To the Defender of the Motherland" was awarded to Major of the Medical Service Asan Charukhov. The medal "For Saved Life" was awarded to Soldier Vadym Kaplun, Senior Soldier Oleksii Naumov, Junior Sergeant Antin Roshchin, and Senior Soldier Serhii Yuldashev.

"We will scale up exactly this kind of technological backbone for our army - more ground robotic systems operating at the front, more drones of all types, and increased deliveries of modern solutions that help achieve results in combat, in providing supplies for our combat units, and in evacuating our wounded warriors," the President emphasized.