The most incredible survival story you'll read today: How Ukrainian fighter had to chop off his own LEG before becoming first man ever airlifted off a battlefield by drone...having spent 70 straight weeks stranded and injured in the killzone

Kostiantyn Vlasenko endured 491 days in the killzone, first hiding in a cramped concrete pipeline with comrade 'Baski' as swarms of Russian drones prevented their rescue. They were forced out after eight months when the pipe flooded last winter and hid in an abandoned school before Baski was killed on his 50th birthday.

Russia sent in a speaker telling him to surrender but the 49-year-old infantryman responded with the defiant phrase from the defenders of Snake Island: 'Russian warship, go f*** yourself!' Unable to walk from the blast wounds, he crawled inside a cast-iron furnace to protect himself from drones and remained there for a further eight months.

Self-Amputation

Commanders sent him medical supplies and food by drone and delivered a package from his wife, Tetyana, which included a Stephen King novel, The Outsider. Severely frostbitten, his left foot rotted and fell off, before his right leg started 'dangling' so he placed it on a brick and cut through the remaining tissue with a knife.

'Tears were flowing, but I had to cut,' he said.

Historic Drone Rescue

Surrounded on all sides by enemy drones, in heavily mined terrain in Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, his commanders decided to attempt the world's first ever aerial drone evacuation. They dropped a phone to his position with a video instructing him on how to tie himself to the underside of a drone, as well as written instructions in Ukrainian and Russian.

A heavily modified bomber drone then swooped in and, after attaching himself, Vlasenko made a heart sign and a thumbs up to its camera. It rose 120 metres in the air and flew 18km from Petropavlivka to safety, escorted by a fleet of three Vampire drones.

'I have no words… A wonder. It is a miracle,' Vlasenko said.

Survival Details

Hailing from Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, Vlasenko was working as a truck driver at a quarry when war broke out. He drove to the draft office and demanded to be signed up after which he served with the 2nd Battalion of Ukraine's 30th Mechanised Brigade.

Vlasenko was ordered to evacuate an injured comrade and take over from them at a position in a concrete drainage pipe in Kharkiv region. The soldier had stepped on a petal mine and lost their toes and one foot while leaving the pipe to collect supplies on June 2 last year.

After evacuating them that day, Vlasenko took over with one 'brother-in-arms', callsign 'Baski'. In the middle of the pipe, a hole had been crafted down into an underground shelter. They would take it in turns to hide in the 'shelter' while the other kept watch in the pipe above.