77-Year-Old Woman Fleeing Russian Shelling Rescued by Ukrainian Military Robot

Ukrainian Forces Deploy Unmanned Car Robot for Evacuation

The Ukrainian military released a video showing a 77-year-old woman fleeing from Russian artillery fire being found by a reconnaissance drone and safely evacuated by sending an unmanned car robot.

According to Yonhap News, this video was released on April 25 (local time) through the Ukrainian Army's 3rd Corps social media accounts, including Telegram, Facebook, and X, as reported on April 28.

The footage captures the reality of the Lyman district in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, where fierce battles are taking place. The roads are pitted with marks left by bullets and shells. The reconnaissance drone of the Ukrainian Army's 60th Independent Mechanized Brigade spotted the elderly woman walking alone along this road.

The Ukrainian military released a video showing a 77-year-old woman fleeing from Russian artillery fire being located by a reconnaissance drone and safely evacuated using an unmanned car robot. Screenshot from social media

The elderly woman was walking with great difficulty, supporting herself with a cane in each hand.

The drone operator, monitoring in real time from a remote control center, discovered the elderly woman and commented, "She seems out of breath."

The Ukrainian military sent an unmanned car robot named 'Kerberos' (after the dog guarding the entrance to the underworld in Greek mythology) to the woman. To avoid frightening her, the soldiers draped a blanket over the robot with the message, "Grandma, please get on!" written on it.

The 3rd Corps explained, "In a situation where there was no hope of survival, this grandmother passed by shell craters and the bodies of villagers, and finally, the robot arrived."

The elderly woman struggled to climb onto the robot. Soldiers at the remote control center, watching her efforts, encouraged her by saying, "You can do it, you can do it, that's it!" Eventually, the robotic car carried her, and soldiers of the 1st Mechanized Battalion helped her get off the vehicle. Escorted by the drone, the woman was safely transported to a nearby shelter.

An unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) Thermite revealed by the Ukrainian military. Provided by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense

It was reported that the operation took four hours. Later, Ukrainian authorities explained that the woman's house, where she had lived for 53 of her 77 years, had been destroyed by Russian forces. The 3rd Corps urged residents to evacuate in advance, emphasizing that "the most precious thing is life."

In fact, Ukraine has recently shown moves to fully replace its insufficient frontline manpower with unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs).

On April 25 (local time), U.S. military media outlet Defense News reported that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense plans to contract as many as 25,000 UGVs in the first half of this year alone, signaling its intention to fully shift frontline logistics from personnel to robots.

According to the report, since January, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has deployed more than 180,000 drones and UGVs, as well as electronic warfare systems, to the frontlines, investing about 330 million dollars (approximately 487.5 billion won).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.