Live grenade pulled from soldier’s chest
A UKRAINIAN fighter had an unexploded grenade surgically removed from his body, combat medics said after a successful operation.
Explosive experts watched over the procedure amid fears the device could have detonated at any second.
The VOG grenade was said to have been fired from a launcher attached to an assault rifle during a bloody battle between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the Donetsk city of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian surgeon major general Andrii Verba had to perform the surgery without many modern techniques to prevent the ordnance from exploding.
Serhii Borzov, the regional governor, confirmed in a Facebook post: “Our military doctors performed an operation to remove an unexploded VOG grenade from the body of a serviceman.”
Ukraine’s combat medics said in another post: “It was removed in the presence of two sappers who were ensuring the safety of medical staff.”
X-ray images released on social media appear to show the device lodged in the soldier’s torso. Mr Borzov added: “The operational intervention was successful. The injured soldier was sent to further rehabilitation and recovery.”
Major General Verba was said to have been unable to use electrocoagulation – a technique that uses heat to control bleeding – because it could have triggered the grenade.
The surgeon, an experienced combat medic, has been operating on wounded troops in eastern Donbas since 2014.
He was honoured for his work in leading thousands of field operations.