Airlifting wounded soldiers to safety via drone

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16277815/Moment-wounded-Ukrainian-soldier-airlifted-safety-drone-Kyiv-establishes-dedicated-aerial-medical-squad.html

A wounded Ukrainian soldier who amputated his own leg was airlifted to safety by a drone.

Artem Lytvyn, whose call sign is 'Kolobok', crawled on his knees towards the heavy-lift drone before being flown above the trees.

The rescue came as Ukraine's Code 9.2 regiment established a dedicated aerial drone evacuation unit to rescue critically wounded soldiers from areas inaccessible by ground. 

Lytvyn had been stranded for several days after stepping on a magnetic mine while escorting a fellow soldier to a position, according to former Ukrainian deputy interior minister Anton Gerashchenko.

He was then stretchered into an ambulance and treated by paramedics. Speaking from inside the vehicle he said: 'These are miracles'.

Attempts to evacuate Lytvyn using ground drones proved impossible because of the risk to rescue teams, Gerashchenko said.

With his chances of survival dwindling, the regiment deployed StarGate at the request of Code 9.2's commander.

Bleeding heavily, Lytvyn crawled towards the drone and climbed into a specially designed protective stretcher before being lifted into the air.

Footage shows Artem Lytvyn, whose call sign is 'Kolobok', crawling on his knees towards the heavy-lift drone before being flown above the trees to safety

The drone carried him above the treeline at speeds comparable to a car, completing in 30 minutes a journey that would take assault troops around a week on foot, according to Gerashchenko

He is then seen being stretchered into an ambulance and treated by paramedics. Speaking from inside the vehicle he says: 'These are miracles'

The drone carried him above the treeline at speeds comparable to a car, completing in 30 minutes a journey that would take assault troops around a week on foot, according to Gerashchenko.

Within two hours he had reached a stabilisation point.

It was Code 9.2's fourth aerial evacuation of a severely wounded soldier. Each operation is supported by aerial reconnaissance and electronic warfare systems to help rescuers reach casualties in otherwise inaccessible locations. 

The rescue follows the extraordinary evacuation of another Ukrainian soldier who lost both legs while stranded behind enemy lines.

After enduring 491 days in the kill zone and being forced to amputate his right leg with a blunt knife after losing his left to frostbite, Kostiantyn Vlasenko received the call he thought might never come.

For the previous 231 days, the Ukrainian infantryman had been alone, hiding within a cast-iron furnace in an abandoned school, after his only comrade, callsign 'Baski', had been killed.

The pair had found refuge here last winter after the cramped underground drainage pipe where they spent their first eight months flooded, forcing them to flee.

But the sky above their position in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine was saturated with enemy aircraft, making evacuation impossible. A Russian drone killed Baski on his 50th birthday, leaving Vlasenko severely injured.

Now, he was told a rescue was finally going to be attempted.

'It's being planned,' his commander said over the radio. 'Everything is practically ready. There are just a few finishing touches.'

The next sentence left the grizzled 49-year-old infantryman dumbstruck. 'They're going to drop instructions to you today,' the commander added.

'What instructions?' Vlasenko whispered to himself. 'Don't I know how to crawl out of a hole, damn it?'

He was certain they would send an unmanned ground vehicle, or burst through on a quadbike, as Ukraine usually does to evacuate casualties on the frontline.

Instead, a drone dropped a sealed bag containing a nylon seat, rope, carabiners, and a phone loaded with a video detailing what he must do. As he watched the film, it suddenly dawned on him what his superiors had planned.

Attempts to evacuate Lytvyn using ground drones proved impossible because of the risk to rescue teams, Gerashchenko said

He is then seen being stretchered into an ambulance and treated by paramedics. Speaking from inside the vehicle he says: 'These are miracles'

'I realised it was going to be an aerial drone, because in the video he [the drone pilot tasked with saving him] was saying, 'I'll descend, and when I land, you must do this and this…'

'It was going to land and turn off its motors so I could crawl underneath.'

On October 4, Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade sent a heavily modified bomber drone to Vlasenko's position in Petropavlivka to carry out the first unmanned aerial evacuation of a wounded serviceman in military history.

Incredible footage shows Vlasenko strap himself to its underbelly, giving a thumbs up to its camera before it rises 400ft (120 metres) in the air and flies him 11 miles to safety.

It was flanked by a fleet of three Vampire drones to fight off the Russians, with one of them taken out by the enemy.

Recovering in hospital, Vlasenko, callsign 'Kostya', revealed the extraordinary story behind the evacuation to Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov.

Wearing a Gurzuf Defense cap – a nod to the company which made the drone that rescued him – he says of the rescue operation: 'I have no words… A wonder. It is a miracle.'

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16277815/Moment-wounded-Ukrainian-soldier-airlifted-safety-drone-Kyiv-establishes-dedicated-aerial-medical-squad.html

US sanctions Canadian money services businesses for helping Iranian regime move money out of the country

 

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs stated that it “has long called on the Canadian government to ensure that Canada is not used as a safe haven for the IRGC, its operatives or other elements of the regime.”

(Nov. 7, 2026 / JNS)

The U.S. federal government sanctioned eight Canadian money services businesses on Friday that it said help the Islamic Republic move assets in and out of Iran.

“These companies facilitate the exchange of Iranian rials and other currencies for digital assets to enable international transactions involving Iran,” the U.S. Treasury Department stated.

“Many of these businesses have facilitated transactions with sanctioned Iranian digital asset exchanges, as well as with digital asset addresses associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the department said.

Friday’s move was coordinated with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Some of those, whom Washington sanctioned on Friday, have worked with Ryan Wedding, a former Olympian and a Canadian drug trafficker, whom the United States has sanctioned and who was arrested in January.

“Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies,” stated Scott Bessent, the U.S. treasury secretary.

The newly-sanctioned businesses, including Diverse ‌Trade, 1380079 BC, Top PC Technician, NIA Nations Currency, 2397639 Ontario, CCC, B Galaxy and Darvish Exchange, are based in Ontario and British Columbia.

The Treasury Department said that the companies provided the Iranian regime with “financial lifelines.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA, said on Friday that it “has long called on the Canadian government to ensure that Canada is not used as a safe haven for the IRGC, its operatives or other elements of the regime.”

It said that the issue is not just about illicit financial activity.

“It is about individuals and networks operating in Canada to support a despotic regime that murders tens of thousands of its own people, exports terrorism around the world, launches missiles and drones at its neighbors and arms Russia with weapons used in its horrific war against Ukrainians,” CIJA stated.

The advocacy group said that it is urging the Canadian government to “take decisive action against Iran, its proxies and their networks operating in Canada” as it advances its new national security strategy.

The Treasury Department stated that “although Canadian and international media sources have highlighted the sanctions evasion and terrorist financing-related risks that certain of these money services businesses pose, the entities designated today remain operational.”

“Several of these entities have changed their business names and addresses in an attempt to evade detection and enforcement actions,” it said

www.jns.org/news/u-s-news/us-sanctions-canadian-money-services-businesses-for-helping-iranian-regime-move-money-out-of-the-country

Mike Wagenheim

Mike Wagenheim is a Washington-based correspondent for JNS, primarily covering the U.S. State Department and Congress. He is the senior U.S. correspondent at the Israel-based i24NEWS TV network.

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Man sentenced to 66 months for shooting at Montreal yeshiva

“The knowledge that there are youth who are willing to perpetrate these attacks only adds to the fear of Jewish Canadians who have been grappling with a national crisis of antisemitism for the last several years,” Richard Robertson of B’nai Brith Canada told JNS.

(Nov. 9, 2026 / JNS)

Abdirazak Mahdi Ahmed, 23, was sentenced to 66 months in prison on Monday for firing shots at Yeshiva Gedola Merkaz Hatorah, a Jewish school in Montreal, in November 2023.

Ahmed pleaded guilty in September to discharging a firearm while acting recklessly as to the consequences of his actions. He has been in custody since his May 2024 arrest.

The shooting occurred shortly before 5 a.m. on Nov. 12, 2023. The school was unoccupied, and no one was injured. Police found three bullet holes in the building’s entrance and four 9 mm shell casings outside.

Investigators linked Ahmed to the attack through DNA evidence recovered from items in a stolen vehicle used in the shooting, as well as cellphone location data placing him near the school and the vehicle’s subsequent abandonment site.

The prosecution and defense jointly recommended the five-and-a-half-year sentence.

The shooting came three days after Yeshiva Gedola and another Jewish school, Azrieli Talmud Torah, were also targeted by gunfire. Prosecutors said there was no evidence connecting Ahmed to those earlier shootings or other attacks on Jewish institutions.

Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada, told JNS that another young person, a minor only known as “J.B.,” who shot at the Beth Avraham Yoseph congregation in Toronto, is set to be sentenced on Tuesday.

“We’ve seen a growing problem with youth violence in Canada,” Robertson said. “We’ve seen youth acting as guns for hire who have been charged in relation to attacks against the Jewish community.”

Robertson added that “it should concern all Canadians, not just the Jewish community, that there are youth who have been so indoctrinated.”

“The knowledge that there are youth who are willing to perpetrate these attacks only adds to the fear of Jewish Canadians who have been grappling with a national crisis of antisemitism for the last several years,” he told JNS.

Robertson said the sentence was an important step toward holding those responsible for attacks on Jewish institutions accountable.

“The sentence handed down today reflects the diligent investigation and the commitment of the Crown and the court to holding Ahmed accountable for his actions,” he said. “This sentence sends a strong message that there will be zero tolerance for those who choose to target vulnerable communities in Canada.”

www.jns.org/news/world/man-sentenced-to-66-months-for-shooting-at-montreal-yeshiva

Jessica Russak-Hoffman

Jessica Russak-Hoffman is a reporter for JNS in Seattle.

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