Cut off his foot with a canned meat knife and continued to fight. The story of a Ukrainian evacuated by drone after 491 days in position
For almost a year and a half, Ukrainian serviceman Konstantin Vlasenko spent time at a combat position in the Kupiansk direction. For over seven months, he remained alone, without the possibility of reaching his own. When tissue necrosis began due to severe wounds, the soldier was forced to amputate his own foot with an ordinary knife. He almost no longer believed he would return alive. But in the end, he was saved thanks to an unusual operation. We present the details.
Konstantin Vlasenko. Video screenshot: ButusovPlus / YouTube
On October 19, an unusual operation by Ukrainian servicemen became known, which in Ukraine was called the world's first evacuation of a wounded person from the front line using a heavy aerial drone.
Now, details of the rescued soldier's story have emerged. He turned out to be 49-year-old Konstantin Vlasenko from Kryvyi Rih, who spent 491 days in a combat position. The serviceman told in a large interview with Ukrainian military journalist Yurii Butusov about how he survived, lost both feet, and why he refused to surrender to Russian captivity.
According to the man, before the war, he worked as a driver of a huge 130-ton BelAZ at a mining and processing plant, had no military experience, and had not served in the army before. However, after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, he decided to go to the front.
As Konstantin recalls, he did not manage to join the army immediately. He had a mobilization exemption as an enterprise employee, but he personally ensured that he was conscripted. As a result, Vlasenko found himself in the second mechanized battalion of the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Prince Konstantin Ostrozky. In the army, he received the call sign "Magura".
Position for Long Months
On June 3, 2025, Konstantin took up a combat position in the Kupiansk direction of the front. He came to replace a serviceman who stepped on a "Petal" anti-personnel mine while going to retrieve food dropped by a drone. Vlasenko remained at the position with another soldier. Together they were supposed to hold the defense until the next rotation, but they got stuck there for many months.
A concrete drainage pipe served as a shelter for the two servicemen. They punched a hole in it, through which they could enter, and gradually equipped a living space. From both ends of the pipe, the soldiers could observe the area. As Vlasenko recalls, he and his comrade tried to make their underground dwelling more comfortable and even expanded it so that after rotation, four people could be accommodated there.
However, the situation at the front was changing. Russian forces were increasing the number of reconnaissance and attack drones, and any movement in open terrain became extremely dangerous. It was not possible to replace the servicemen. Groups that tried to reach them came under attack; there were fatalities.
Weeks and months passed like this. Food, water, radio batteries, and other necessary items were delivered to the soldiers using drones. They lived in the shelter, observed the enemy, and maintained communication with the command.
Death of a Comrade and Offer to Surrender
In February 2026, the situation sharply deteriorated. After a thaw, the concrete pipe was flooded, and when frost struck again, the water began to freeze. By then, both soldiers were severely weakened. According to Vlasenko, after many months underground, their muscles barely obeyed, and they had to move on all fours.
On February 14, they left the flooded shelter and moved to a ruined school building. The command continued to drop them food and dry clothes, but Russian reconnaissance drones noticed the deliveries. Soon, attacks began.
During one of the strikes, Konstantin was wounded in his left leg. It was so frozen that he did not immediately feel the extent of the injury. He could still lean on his right leg, but later, when rushing to retrieve another package among concrete debris and rebar, he dislocated it too.
As Vlasenko recalls, after another food drop, his comrade crawled to the package, retrieved the food, and returned to him. Soon, a Russian drone dropped ammunition, which severely wounded the soldier. Konstantin pulled him close and tried to find the wound. But it was already getting dark, there was no flashlight, and the wounded man only moaned and could not explain anything. He did not survive until the morning of February 16.
From that day until October 4, 2026, there was no other Ukrainian serviceman near Konstantin.
During this time, the Russians learned that a single wounded soldier remained in position. They decided to persuade him to surrender. One day, a Russian drone dropped a loudspeaker near the shelter.
“Brother, we know you're here. Your comrades won't help you. Heard an explosion? The next one could be for you. We don't want to kill you. Put a jar or bottle on the window, and we'll know you're ready. A white light will lead you out. Then captivity, exchange, and home,” – this message, according to Vlasenko, was repeated again and again.
Later, the Russians attacked the shelter with heavy ammunition. Concrete slabs crumbled from the explosions, bricks rained down. Konstantin hid in the remains of an old stove under cast-iron grates and at one point thought he was buried under the rubble. But he survived. And even after the explosions, he continued to hear the recording with promises of captivity, exchange, and return home.
He had no intention of surrendering. When the journalist asked how he managed to endure everything he had experienced, Konstantin replied:
“It's necessary. My land, my people, they must be defended, stand until the last. Although they offered me to surrender, I couldn't allow myself to do that.”
Amputation with an Ordinary Knife
Meanwhile, Konstantin's leg condition deteriorated. Due to injuries and cold, they swelled severely, and the soldier could no longer stand on them. He had to crawl out of the shelter to retrieve food and medicine dropped by drones. As Vlasenko recalls, even fragments that remained in his body after the explosions gradually began to emerge from the wounds.
The command continued to support him, delivering water, food, and necessary medications via drones — Betadine for wound treatment, antibiotics, and painkillers. Konstantin especially thanks his company commander who, according to him, constantly monitored the situation. The soldier took painkillers for about a month and a half, but then refused them, fearing addiction.
Despite the help, the condition of his legs continued to worsen. Over time, necrosis began – tissue death. In April 2026, his left foot had rotted so much that it detached itself. When bleeding began, Konstantin tied off his leg with a tourniquet, and later replaced it with a bandage.
His right leg, which he had previously dislocated, was also gradually dying. According to Vlasenko, he hardly felt it, and the foot was effectively hanging by damaged tissues. The bone had protruded through the skin and became increasingly exposed each time the soldier crawled for food. He feared that the necrosis would spread to his knee, and in May, he decided to amputate his right foot himself.
He had no surgical instruments, only an ordinary blunt knife he used to open cans of canned meat. Vlasenko placed his leg on a brick and began to cut off the damaged foot.
When asked by the journalist if he felt pain, the soldier replied that he did. According to him, the pain was so intense that he cried and could not control his urination. But he continued, as he feared infection and believed he had no other option.
After the amputation, he even tried to joke in a conversation with his commander. He said that now he no longer had flat feet or a size 44 shoe.
After losing his left foot, Konstantin threw it out the shelter window. In May, when he had to amputate his right foot himself, he did the same. As the serviceman recalls, there were insect larvae in the dead tissues. Later, when it got warmer, he noticed many orange-black butterflies near that spot — according to his estimates, about two hundred.
“I thought: My God, butterflies even came from my feet,” Vlasenko recalls and notes that he himself is surprised how he managed to avoid severe infection.
Seven Months in Solitude
However, even the loss of both feet did not mean the end of Konstantin's combat service. He continued to observe the area, listen to sounds, monitor enemy movements, and transmit information to command via radio.
According to the soldier, one of the hardest trials was solitude. He awaited each radio communication session to hear the voices of his comrades. The conversations gave him the feeling that he was not abandoned and that he was remembered.
Small joys also helped Konstantin to keep going. Along with necessary items, comrades sometimes dropped him chocolate, tea, cigarettes. One day, his wife Tatiana, with whom he lives in a second marriage, sent him Stephen King's book "The Outsider" through the servicemen. Konstantin loves this writer very much, although, as he himself recalls, his wife didn't even suspect how much.
Thoughts of his loved ones also helped him not to lose hope. During long months in solitude, Vlasenko pondered much about his life and what he hadn't managed to do. He particularly often remembered his daughter Kristina and regretted that he had not given her enough attention before. If he managed to return home, he would want to change that.
Rescue from the Air
However, there was still no possibility to get out of the position. Ukrainian servicemen repeatedly tried to organize a replacement, but groups could not reach Konstantin due to constant Russian drone attacks. Some soldiers died during these attempts.
An attempt to use a ground robotic platform also ended in failure: the Russians spotted and destroyed the apparatus.
Konstantin understood that every new attempt to rescue him could cost other people their lives. Eventually, he asked the command not to send anyone else to him.
“I already wanted no one to come for me. I was already resigned to staying there forever,” he confessed.
But his comrades continued to look for a way out. The head of intelligence of the second mechanized battalion, call sign "Alex," began preparing an unusual operation: to evacuate the wounded not by land, but by air, using a large cargo drone.
A conventional ground evacuation was practically impossible. Approaches to the position were controlled by Russian drones, and the roads were mined. Moreover, Konstantin was on the left bank of the Oskil River, which further complicated the task.
For the operation, they chose the Ukrainian heavy drone Heavy Shot "Ayudag-6" manufactured by Gurzuf Defence, capable of lifting a payload of up to 130 kilograms. The apparatus was equipped with a system that allowed a person to be transported on a special harness.
Preparation, according to the organizers, took about six months. It involved servicemen from several units, specialists in drones, ground robots, and electronic warfare. It was necessary not only to prepare the apparatus itself but also to figure out how to protect it from Russian attacks during the flight.
On the eve of the evacuation, Konstantin was dropped climbing gear, carabiners, and a phone with a video instruction showing how to properly secure himself to the suspension system.
On October 4, 2026, the heavy drone arrived at the position.
After landing and the engines stopped, Vlasenko himself crawled to the apparatus, attached the necessary gear to himself, and gave a signal to the camera that he was ready. He also formed a heart with his hands. Then the drone took off, lifting the wounded soldier on a winch.
Konstantin recalls that he was almost not afraid of the height itself. What worried him most was the possibility that the Russians would shoot down the drone over the river. He cannot swim and understood that after falling into the water with such injuries, he would not be able to save himself.
During the flight, a strong wind was blowing, and tears flowed from his eyes. He had no protective goggles, and he didn't have time to put on his headphones.
To cover the main drone, Ukrainian servicemen simultaneously launched other apparatuses. One of them was shot down by the Russians, but the drone carrying Konstantin was able to overcome the dangerous section, cross the Oskil, and reach the meeting point.
There, the wounded man was transferred to a ground robotic platform "Peacemaker," which transported him further, after which the serviceman was handed over to medics. Thus, on October 4, 2026, his 491-day stay in a combat position ended.
Currently, Konstantin is in a military hospital. He thanks the command and everyone who helped him survive and organized the evacuation.