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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
James C. Reynolds

Ukrainian soldier ‘cut off his own leg’ before miracle battlefield evacuation by drone after 70 weeks stranded

The injured soldier airlifted from Ukraine’s frontline by drone cut off his own frostbitten leg in a desperate bid to survive, having spent more than a year alone in the kill zone before his dramatic rescue, according to reports.

Kostiantyn Vlasenko, 49, made history as the first person to be evacuated from a war-zone with a flying drone, as Russian UAVs and landmines made a conventional rescue impossible.

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