A Ukrainian medical team recently performed a normally unheard-of surgery by removing an unexploded grenade from a soldier’s chest. A Ukrainian Major General of the Medical Service led the group tackling the dangerous surgery. He was accompanied by two sappers, to help mitigate the explosion risk.
Facebook translation of the post
This is a shockNice oneOur military doctors conducted an operation to remove a part of the grenade from the VOG, which did not break, from the body of the soldier!She was removed in the presence of two sappers who were ensuring the safety of medical staff.The operation was carried out by one of the most experienced surgeons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – Major General of the Medical Service Andrei Verba without electric coagulation, as the ammunition could detonate at any time.The surgical intervention was successful and the injured serviceman was sent to further rehabilitation and recovery.The Ukrainian Military Medic’s Facebook page published an x-ray image of the patient and a picture of the Major General. The Facebook post was published last week mentioning the grenade posed such a high explosion risk that they had to perform it without electrocoagulation – a standard practice used to control bleeding with electricity.
The Ukrainian Military did not reveal any details about the surgery’s location. However, the surgery was considered a success, and the serviceman was transferred to a rehabilitation and recovery center.
The unexploded grenade removed is thought to be a VOG model, fired from a rifle mounted grenade launcher. Munitions of this type have a low failure rate, but several factors could have been at play. Depending on the exact munitions, the arming distance of this type of round may be from 10-40m. Meaning it could have been a point blank shot, or perhaps even a friendly-fire accident. We simply do not know.
This soldier is extremely lucky to have survived. However, several instances of unexploded ordinance, primarily rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), being removed from the bodies of American servicemen occurred during the Global War on Terrorism. Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction.
