ARussian soldier is lucky to be alive after a team of military physicians performed a rare surgery to remove an unexploded shell lodged in his chest.

Junior Sergeant Nikolay Pasenko was seriously injured last week when a Ukrainian special military operation ambushed his unit, according to Russia's Defense Ministry. Pasenko's unit fell under heavy fire, and when Pasenko dismounted an infantry fighting vehicle and returned fire, he heard an explosion and felt pain in his side. A shell had lodged in his chest.

TASS, a Russian news agency, reported that Pasenko was evacuated to a local outpatient clinic in the Belgorod region, where surgeons performed a lifesaving operation.

"The patient was admitted with a wound that had penetrated [his] chest," the statement from Russia's Defense Ministry said. "The examination revealed that the miraculously unexploded ordnance had pierced [his] ribs and lungs and got lodged close to the spinal cord, between the aorta and the inferior vena cava near the heart."

The shell was live, meaning it could have detonated at any time. The statement said the risk of detonation was "extremely high." Surgeons proceeded anyway and saved Pasenko's life. TASS called the surgery's success a miracle.

"Despite this, the military doctors together with their civilian counterparts donned body armor under their medical gowns and proceeded with this utmost intricate surgery," the ministry said.

Medical Corps Lieutenant-Colonel Dmitry Kim, who performed the surgery, said Pasenko was at risk of losing too much blood from the injury, which is why they operated at a local facility.

"The unexploded shell was stuck between the aorta and the inferior vena cava close to the heart, which could have caused fatal bleeding even without the ordnance's detonation," Kim said. "A decision was made to carry out the surgery locally."

When the surgery was complete, Pasenko was transported to Moscow. He is recovering at the Mandryk Central Military Clinical Hospital.

Pasenko said that initially he was against the operation but agreed once Kim didn't change his mind.

"I did not want the doctors to suffer as the munition could have exploded," Pasenko said. "The surgeons put on body armor vests. And now you see that I am sitting in front of you. My thanks to surgeon Dmitry Kim and I will be grateful to him for the rest of my life. He replied: 'So, we will explode together.' That's it. He is a very courageous man."