This is the moment a Ukrainian drone sent to kill a Russian soldier with a grenade turns back to save the wounded soldier’s life.
The 18-minute video was posted by the K-2 Battalion, a group within the Ukrainian Army’s 54th Brigade, on its social media channels.
Set to an ominous tune, the drone footage shows a grenade being thrown onto the battlefield, though the exact location or date is not entirely clear.
As clouds of smoke billowed into the air, the soldier survived two assassination attempts using lethal weapons in an area believed to be in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
The drone controller launches five lethal grenades in total at the enemy army member, who narrowly avoids death with each bombing.
After throwing five grenades at a Russian soldier, a Ukrainian drone controller decided to return and help him to safety.
In the video, believed to be part of the K-2 Battalion’s recruitment strategy, the drone drops five deadly grenades on the enemy soldier.
The video is believed to have been filmed in late summer, with the drone controller returning to the same spot to find the man begging for his life.
The footage, which IIt is believed to be part of an attempt to encourage potential recruits to sign up for the K-2 Battalion, and shows the Ukrainian apparently taking pity on the bleeding soldier.
The group, like the Ukrainian military as a whole, is feeling the pressure to recruit more.
The deflated Russian man stands up, but the drone controller tries to point out that he is heading in the wrong direction.
Low on energy and injured, the man desperately signals to the drone that he needs water, and the drone returns to base to collect it.
However, after realizing he had survived the drone’s return, the controller dropped water and instructions on the injured man.
Using the drone, he then guided the Russians across the deadly battlefield to Ukrainian lines.
Plumes of smoke rose into the air as airstrikes (which the video showed were from the opposition) pounded the camp.
Adding a note with instructions on how to reach the Ukrainian lines, the dehydrated and bleeding man clasps his hands together in thanks to the Ukrainian controller.
Exhausted and battered, the Russian finds a syringe of painkillers in his pocket, which he administers to his left arm before trying to gather the strength to move.
As he heads out onto the sun-drenched battlefield of No Man’s Land, the soldier with a wounded leg instantly falls down before slowly getting up again in an attempt to reach safety.
Ukrainian drones continue to guide him, as plumes of smoke from recent fighting rise from the fields.
During the journey, the Russian man indicated that he wanted to smoke a cigarette before continuing, remaining lying in a crater for a few minutes.
The wounded Russian soldier signaled to the injured man that he needed a cigarette break while he sat inside the box.
After emerging and walking through No Man’s Land, he was met by Ukrainian soldiers who escorted him to their command post.
Panning out across the wider field as the sun began to set on the battlefield, more airstrikes began to fall as the drone continued to guide it.
The images, collected by the Ukrainian battalion, claim the attacks came from the opposition.
Finally, the Russian soldier reaches enemy lines and encounters two Ukrainian infantrymen.
The soldiers march steadily towards the wounded man and appear to pull him along before leading him towards their command post.