Vladyslav Polskyi awarded Hero of Ukraine for battlefield rescue

Ukrainian commander Vladyslav Polskyi, known by the call-sign ‘Teacher’, has been awarded the ‘Hero of Ukraine’ title following a high-risk rescue mission in the Kharkiv region. On August 15, Polskyi observed via remote monitoring that two wounded soldiers were stranded in a ‘kill zone’—an area heavily mined and monitored by enemy drones.

The wounded soldiers were attempting to evacuate using an unmanned ground vehicle when it was struck by a Russian explosive-laden drone. Polskyi, a former science teacher who joined the military in 2023, drove a pickup truck into the danger zone without a helmet or body armor to retrieve the men.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented Polskyi with the nation’s highest military honor during Independence Day celebrations in Kyiv. The incident highlights both the utility and the current limitations of using unmanned technology for battlefield evacuations in high-threat environments.