"I got in car and drove off": Hero of Ukraine Vladyslav Polskyi (Teacher) on evacuating soldiers from disabled UGV

Junior Lieutenant Vladyslav Polskyi, call sign "Teacher," commander of the 1st Company of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment CODE 9.2, personally drove a pickup truck to retrieve two wounded soldiers after a Russian FPV drone disabled the unmanned ground vehicle meant to evacuate them. In an interview, he spoke about the operation, his service as an infantryman and in casualty evacuation, his own injury near Bakhmut, and what the title Hero of Ukraine means to him.

– Please tell us about the incident that recently appeared online. You drove a pickup truck to a disabled UGV carrying wounded soldiers, pulled them into the truck, got in, and drove them to safety. How did it happen?

– The leaders of the groups that entered the settlement and moved into those positions were two men with the call signs "Skelia" and "Lenin." They entered the settlement and did an excellent job. They had help from the robotic systems we use both in the air and on the ground, including strike systems. They used them to clear a path. As the men advanced, they also cleared several positions themselves. They worked very professionally and did a good job.

Then the men were wounded. Their injuries were quite serious, and they could no longer carry out any tasks.

At the same time, we still had a little time to wait and plan their evacuation using a UGV. Evacuating them from the position on foot would have been impractical. We could have ended up with several more wounded, or possibly even killed. So we planned a route for the UGV.

That took a little over a day. During that time, we had to check the road for enemy troops, mines, and other hazards. The reconnaissance team and the UGV platoon commander worked on that.

The men were loaded onto the UGV before dawn, and it set off. At first, the robotic vehicle travelled without any problems. It also moved through the settlement without difficulty. But when the UGV reached an exposed stretch of road, with fields on both sides and no vegetation or other cover, the enemy spotted it and began attacking it with FPV drones.

I want to point out the skill of the men operating the UGV. As they were driving back and saw an FPV drone coming at them, the operator managed to turn the UGV so that the drone hit the Starlink. There are two mounts like that for Starlink. The drone hit one of them, and we lost contact with the UGV.

The radio was out; Starlink was out. The men had serious injuries, but they were alive.

At the time, one of our drones was following them, monitoring the evacuation and what was happening. The soldier on duty immediately told the pilots that the UGV was disabled and there was no contact with it, but the men were alive.

To be honest, two thoughts immediately came to mind. The first was fear for the men: if we did nothing, we would most likely lose them. About two minutes after the first drone hit them, another arrived. It missed them by just five to ten metres. It did not cause significant harm, but it was clear another attack would follow.

The second thought was that there was still something we could do. So my first reaction was to call the battalion commander. Whatever such operations may look like from the outside, carrying them out alone is difficult. We did not speak for long. I told him the UGV had been hit, the men were alive, and, in terms of distance, I was the closest to them.

While we were on the phone, I was already putting on my trainers, with the keys in my hand, standing beside the truck. So as soon as he said, "Roger that," I got in and drove off.

– Why did you go alone?

– First, because I knew there was a good chance it would not work. There were quite a lot of mines. And I did not know that road at all. I only saw the obstacles along the way when they were about five metres from the truck.

There were wrecked UGVs and destroyed vehicles blocking the road. If you watch the video, you can see me driving around one of them through the grass, effectively across a field.

Enemy drone activity was also very intense, so there was a considerable chance the attempt would fail. We were about five kilometres from the front line.

Unfortunately, both vehicles and people had been hit much farther back from the front line.

After I had driven out with the men, a soldier at the battalion command and observation post, who handles strikes against targets and other tasks, called me. He sent me a photograph showing about eleven mined spots on the road.

As we were heading back, Molniya and FPV drones came at us. I think the timing was right, and perhaps that rather unconventional decision helped. Skill played a part in some moments, experience in others and, as the Commander-in-Chief put it, a kind of boyish courage. That is how we managed it.

– What happened to the men you evacuated?

– They are receiving treatment now. I am in touch with one of them. He called me quite recently. We talked, and he asked for advice about what to do next. They are planning to transfer him to another hospital. He has already been contacted there about a prosthesis. He asked me about the company that had contacted him, so we discussed it.

I have not had much contact with the other man yet. He is still receiving treatment, but his condition is stable. One is already moving on to rehabilitation, while the other remains in hospital in stable condition.

Thank God, the men are alive.

– How did you join the army? How did it happen?

– When the war began, I was already working at a school. We switched to remote learning then, and closer to summer, in-person classes resumed. That was when I realised that practically all my friends were already serving.

So I decided I would see the children through to the end of the school year and then go to the territorial recruitment centre myself. I wanted to be mobilised, but I was 26 at the time and mobilisation began at 27, so that was difficult. I decided to sign a contract instead.

There were bureaucratic issues, though, so it took a long time. Around late December or early January, at the turn of 2022 and 2023, I was told they were taking me in.

In early 2023, I began basic military training. I joined the 22nd Separate Infantry Battalion, which was attached to the 92nd Brigade.

From the outset, I was assigned as a senior rifleman, an infantryman. We spent about six months at our assigned positions before moving from defence to assault operations.

Then we moved to the area near Bakhmut, to Ivanivske, where we retrained as assault troops. That was when I took part in my first assaults. I sustained my first injury there.

– Tell us about the battle in which you were wounded.

– It was a battle for a tree line. Our task was to advance along it towards a settlement and reach the railway line.

At first, everything went well. On my first mission, we advanced and secured our positions. Another unit relieved us, and I withdrew. Just three or four days later, we were told we would advance farther and return there.

I arrived in the morning, and we moved a little way along the tree line. I was in a trench then. It was a small trench, essentially a shelter.

Armour was firing at us. A Russian tank fired and hit behind me. I only had time to cover myself and turn sideways. The entire right side of my body was injured.

My injury was classified as severe because I had internal injuries.

But I managed to get out. After I returned to my unit, I was transferred from infantry positions to evacuation duties.

I spent about six months as an evacuation team leader in the Andriivka sector. Speaking from my own experience, I tried both roles, but evacuation work was as difficult as you can imagine.

You do not just have to reach the forward positions, as assault troops or infantrymen holding those positions do. You also have to retrieve a wounded soldier from those same positions, carry him back to a safe distance, give him medical aid, and evacuate him.

So we worked intensively on evacuations. We rescued about twenty men, bringing them out of there.

I was a platoon commander when we were in the Zaporizhzhia sector. About three months ago, I became commander of the 1st Company.

– You were awarded Ukraine’s highest distinction, the title Hero of Ukraine. What does this award mean to you?

– Every man who went out to the positions and worked directly with me, under my command, is a hero to me and fully deserves this award.

It does not matter whether he is a company commander, a battalion commander, an officer, a soldier or anyone else. If there is a chance to save the men and do the work that could save them, that is what heroism means to me.