After enduring 491 days in the kill zone and forced to amputate his right leg with a blunt knife after losing his left to frostbite, Kostiantyn Vlasenko received the call he thought might never come.
uncertain
he → endure → call
For the previous 231 days, the Ukrainian infantryman had been alone, hiding within a cast-iron furnace in an abandoned school, after his only comrade, callsign 'Baski', had been killed.
asserted
comrade → hide → school
He and Baski had found refuge here last winter after a cramped underground concrete drainage pipe where they had spent their first eight months flooded, forcing them to flee.
But there were so many enemy aircraft around this position in Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, the sky had turned 'dirty' – or saturated – making their evacuation impossible.
asserted
evacuation → find → region
A Russian drone tracked their location and killed Vlasenko's comrade on his 50th birthday – leaving Vlasenko with severe injuries.
asserted
drone → track → injuries
Now, he was told, a rescue was finally going to be attempted.
asserted
rescue → tell → ?
'It's being planned,' his commander said over the radio.
asserted
commander → plan → radio
The next sentence left the grizzled 49-year-old infantryman dumbstruck.
asserted
sentence → leave → infantryman
'They're going to drop instructions to you today,' the commander added.
asserted
commander → go → you
'What instructions?' Vlasenko whispered to himself.
asserted
Vlasenko → whisper → himself
'Don't I know how to crawl out of a hole, damn it?'
asserted
I → know → it
He was certain they would send an unmanned ground vehicle, or burst through on a quadbike, as Ukraine usually does to evacuate casualties on the frontline.
asserted
Ukraine → send → frontline
Ukrainian infantryman Kostiantyn Vlasenko was rescued by a drone after hiding out alone in an abandoned school for the previous 231 days.
asserted
Vlasenko → rescue → days
His only comrade was killed by a Russian drone
Vlasenko pictured on his 11-mile journey under the drone...
asserted
Vlasenko → kill → drone
it dropped a sealed bag to his position, containing a nylon seat, rope, carabiners, and a phone with video instructions
asserted
it → drop → instructions
But soon he had the answer.
asserted
he → have → answer
A drone dropped a sealed bag to his position, which contained a nylon seat, rope, carabiners, and a phone loaded with a video detailing what he must do.
asserted
he → drop → what
As he watched the film, it suddenly dawned on him what his superiors had planned.
asserted
superiors → watch → what
'I realised it was going to be an aerial drone, because in the video he [the drone pilot tasked with saving him] was saying, 'I'll descend, and when I land, you must do this and this…'
asserted
you → realise → this
'It was going to land and turn off its motors so I could crawl underneath.'
On October 4, Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade sent a heavily modified bomber drone to Vlasenko's position in Petropavlivka to carry out the first unmanned aerial evacuation of a wounded serviceman in military history.
Incredible footage shows Vlasenko strap himself to its underbelly, giving a thumbs up to its camera before it rises 400ft (120 metres) in the air and flies him 11 miles to safety.
uncertain
it → go → safety
It was flanked by a fleet of three Vampire drones to fight off the Russians, with one of them taken out by the enemy.
asserted
one → flank → enemy
Now recovering in hospital, Vlasenko, callsign 'Kostya', revealed the extraordinary story behind the evacuation to Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov.
asserted
Vlasenko → recover → Butusov
Wearing a Gurzuf Defense cap – a nod to the company which made the drone that rescued him – he says of the rescue operation: 'I have no words…
asserted
I → wear → words
Vlasenko's eyes are still sunken and his skin deathly white from 16 months on the front line, nearly all of it spent underground or in darkness.
asserted
all → spend → darkness
He fidgets anxiously, stroking his wispy grey beard as he details his extraordinary story from a wheelchair in hospital.
asserted
he → fidget → hospital
Today, Vlasenko's eyes are still sunken and his skin deathly white from 16 months on the front line, nearly all of it spent underground or in darkness
The 49-year-old recalls how he hid in a pipe for shelter with his friend, Baski, but in February it flooded: 'We crawled out and were already soaked as we moved…
asserted
we → spend → February
Having grown up in Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine, the father of one was working as a truck driver when the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
asserted
invasion → grow → February
After driving to the draft office and demanding to be signed up, he was given a position with the 2nd Battalion of Ukraine's 30th Mechanised Brigade.
asserted
he → drive → Brigade
On June 2 last year, Vlasenko was ordered to evacuate an injured comrade, who had stepped on a petal mine – a Soviet-designed landmine – and take over from them at a position in a concrete drainage pipe.
asserted
who → order → pipe
It was here that he met Baski.
asserted
he → meet → Baski
A hole in the middle of the pipe had been opened up that led down into an underground 'shelter' – a dark hole barely big enough to sit in.
asserted
that → open → shelter
Vlasenko and Baski would take it in turns to hide in the 'shelter' while the other kept watch in the pipe above.
asserted
other → take → pipe
Ukrainian drones would make food deliveries to ensure they had enough to survive.
asserted
they → make → enough
They should have been rotated out from their positions after two months, but soon Russian Mavic drones filled the skies above, making it impossible to leave.
asserted
it → rotate → skies
An attempt to relieve them failed.
asserted
attempt → relieve → them
'They tried to replace us once, but they didn't make it,' he said.
asserted
he → try → it
'Later, other brothers-in-arms went out just to retrieve their bodies, but they couldn't make it either.
asserted
they → go → it
They couldn't recover them.
asserted
They → recover → them
So I said there was no need to come for me.
asserted
I → say → me
Better that I die alone than more people die.'
asserted
people → die → ?
After spending eight months in the pipe, it flooded on February 14 this year.
asserted
it → spend → February
…and 102 more, not listed.
The Aporia
