UAV event in Lviv, Chervonoi Kalyny Avenue, Sykhivskyi area, Ukraine on Tue 24th March 2026

Doctors in Lviv have saved the life of a 44-year-old man who was injured during a Russian Shahed drone attack on 24 March. A 10-centimetre shard of glass pierced his lung and became lodged near the aorta. Such a fragment in the chest could have been fatal.

Source: First Medical Association of Lviv

Details: On the day of the Russian strike, Lviv resident Yurii Pyrih was preparing to go to work, but after reports of a possible attack, he decided to stay at home with his daughter.


"They live in the Sykhivskyi district, on Chervonoi Kalyny Avenue, in a nine-storey building on the top floor. The father and daughter stayed there when the Shahed drones began approaching Lviv, although they usually go to a shelter. This time, they simply moved into the corridor, following the two-walls rule," the hospital noted. [The two-walls rule is a safety rule whereby a person keeps two walls without windows between them and the street during attacks – ed.]

Yurii read that one of the drones was heading towards the Zubra forest, which is visible from his window. He decided to step out onto the balcony to see what was happening. That was when the explosion occurred.

"I leaned out from the balcony and looked. The drone wasn't there, but the sound was getting closer. I slowly closed the balcony window, and just as I stepped back into the room, there was an explosion. I was thrown to the floor. I got up and saw blood starting to flow, but I didn't know where from," the man recalled.

Paramedics from the Hospitallers Medical Battalion transported Yurii to hospital with shrapnel wounds. Most of the injuries affected his limbs, but the largest fragment – 10 centimetres long – pierced his left lung. The piece of glass became lodged near the descending aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body.

Photo: First Medical Association of Lviv on Facebook

Thoracic surgeon Taras Melnychuk explained that there had been a risk of profuse bleeding, massive and rapid blood loss that is not always possible to stop. The foreign object in the lung could also have migrated and caused deadly consequences, so doctors proceeded with surgery.

"In such cases, surgery is usually performed using an open approach with a large incision in the chest. However, the surgeons decided not to subject the patient to additional trauma and operated through small punctures instead.

Using a camera, they precisely located the fragment and carefully removed it without damaging any major blood vessels, stopped the bleeding and restored the integrity of the lung," the First Medical Association of Lviv said.

The man has now been discharged from hospital.

Background: During the Russian drone attack in Lviv, cultural heritage sites were also damaged, including landmarks within the city's historic area, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.