January 12, 2023
Credit, Hanna Maliar
caption,
An Xray shows how close the grenade came to the soldier’s heart
Ukrainian military doctors successfully performed a delicate operation: they removed a small, unexploded grenade deep in the chest cavity of a wounded soldier.
How the grenade got stuck in the soldier’s chest is not yet clear. The smaller equipment can be fired with a rifle of some sort.
The unprecedented surgical procedure was reported by Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, who described it as a “shock”.
“It turns out not all injuries to the heart are fatal,” she wrote in a social media post.
She added that the grenade was recovered under the supervision of two military explosives experts. They ensured the safety of the medical staff and gave instructions on how to handle the explosives to prevent an explosion.
The operation was performed by military surgeon Andriy Verba.
Credit, Hanna Maliar
caption,
Surgeon Andriy Verba examines the grenade after the operation
The 57yearold doctor is considered one of the most experienced in the Ukrainian army.
The operation had to be modified for safety reasons—electrocoagulation, a standard cardiac surgery procedure that stops bleeding, was not used to prevent the electric current from detonating the grenade.
The Russian VOG fragmentation grenade housed in the soldier’s body has a diameter of 4 centimeters and weighs 275 grams.
First developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s, VOG grenades are used in combat operations with various types of grenade launchers and have a range of up to 400 meters.
The Ukrainian military has reported that these weapons have been used against them since the conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014, including shooting down unmanned drones.
Credit, Hanna Maliar
A VOG grenade typically detonates 20 seconds after being thrown.
Ukrainian military analysts marveled not only at how this unexploded shell was recovered, but also how it remained explosive after the operation and posed a risk until it was defused by experts.
The patient’s name was not released but is believed to be 28 years old.
An adviser to the Interior Ministry of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko, citing Ukrainian military sources, wrote on his social networks: “About this patient I can say that he was born in 1994, now he is being sent to rehabilitation, his condition is stable.”
“I think this case will end up in medical books,” Gerashchenko added.