Surgeons manage to remove an unexploded grenade lodged in the chest of a Ukrainian soldier

Ukrainian military surgeons managed to remove the grenade right under the injured soldier's heart - and they managed to remove it without detonating it

An x-ray showing the grenade inside the soldier's chest (

Image: Hanna Maliar/Facebook)

A Ukrainian soldier who had an unexploded grenade lodged in his chest underwent successful surgery to remove it, senior officials said in Kyiv.

Military surgeons removed the weapon from just below the injured soldier's heart, while two sappers - Royal Engineers - oversaw the safety of medical personnel and the patient.

Hanna Maliar, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister, posted a photo online showing an X-ray of the object inside the body of the soldier, believed to be 28.

It was paired with an image showing a surgeon in bloody gloves, holding the explosive after the operation.

"Military doctors conducted an operation to remove a VOG grenade, which did not break, from the soldier's body," she wrote on Facebook.

A surgeon holding the explosive after the operation (

Picture:

Hanna Maliar/Facebook)

"One of the most experienced surgeons in the armed forces, Major General Andrew Willow, operated without electrocoagulation, as the grenade could explode at any moment.

"The operational response was successful and the injured soldier was sent for rehabilitation and convalescence."

Ministerial adviser for internal affairs of Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko, said on Telegram on Thursday that the case "would be in the medical textbooks".

“The unexploded part of the grenade was taken under the heart. The grenade did not explode but remained explosive,” he said.

"There have never been such operations in the practice of our doctors. The same was true during the war in Afghanistan.

"About the current patient, I can say that he was born in 1994, now he is sent to rehabilitation, his condition is stable. I think this case will enter the medical textbooks."

A post on a Ukrainian Armed Forces Facebook page described the discovery of the grenade as a "shock".

“The operation was performed by one of the most experienced surgeons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces - Andrew Willow,” he said,

He specified that the operation took place "without electrocoagulation", because the grenade could explode at "any moment".