Reuters, KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine
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Seeing two wounded fighters stranded on the battlefield — one of them still strapped to a land drone immobilized by a Russian strike — Ukrainian commander Vladyslav Polskyi knew he had to do something.The 29-year-old — a former science teacher who joined the army in 2023 — was watching the soldiers on a screen in his command post about 15km away.Between them stretched the “kill zone,” riddled with mines and swarmed by aerial drones ready to attack anything that moved.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, left, gives Ukrainian commander Vladyslav Polskyi the nation’s highest military honor, the Hero of Ukraine, during an Independence Day celebration in Kyiv on Monday.
Polskyi, whose military call sign is “Teacher,” hopped into his gray pick-up truck and raced past scorched fields and the charred husks of other vehicles left on the battlefield of northern Ukraine. He had no helmet or body armor.“If it had happened to me, I would’ve wanted them to come take me away, and not just leave me there,” the junior lieutenant said, recalling his Aug. 15 mission to save both men, who were members of another battalion.
