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Scrubby foliage hide the entrance. One descending timber tunnel descends to a brightly lit reception area. There is a surgery unit, equipped with gurneys, heart rate sensors and breathing machines. Plus cabinets stocked of healthcare supplies, drugs and neat piles of extra garments. Within a break area with a laundry appliance and kettle, doctors monitor a screen. It shows the flight patterns of enemy surveillance UAVs as they weave in the sky above.

Medical personnel at an underground hospital look at a screen showing enemy kamikaze and reconnaissance drones in the region.

Welcome to Ukraine’s secret below-ground medical facility. The facility began operations in the eighth month and is the second such installation, situated in the eastern part of the country not far from the combat zone and the urban area of a key location in the Donetsk region. “Our facility sits six meters under the earth. This is the most secure way of providing help to our wounded military personnel. And it keeps healthcare workers safe,” stated the clinic’s surgeon, Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

The stabilisation point handles thirty to forty patients a each day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from devastating limb trauma necessitating amputations, or severe stomach wounds. Others can move on their own. The vast majority are the casualties of Russian FPV aerial devices, which release explosives with deadly precision. “Ninety per cent of our cases are from first-person view drones. We encounter minimal gunshot wounds. It’s an age of drones and a new type of war,” the doctor explained.

Major the senior surgeon at the underground facility for caring for wounded soldiers in eastern Ukraine.

On one afternoon recently, a group of three soldiers limped into the hospital. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old one soldier, said an first-person view drone blast had ripped a small hole in his leg. “Conflict is terrible. The guy next to me, Vasyl, was fatally wounded,” he said. “He fell down. Then the Russians released a second explosive on him.” He continued: “Everything in the village is demolished. There are UAVs all around and casualties. Our side's and the enemy's.”

The soldier explained his squad spent 43 days in a wooded zone near Pokrovsk, which Russia has been attempting to capture for many months. The only way to get to their position was by walking. Necessary provisions arrived by quadcopter: food and drinking water. Seven days after he was hurt, he walked 5km (roughly three miles), requiring three hours, to a point where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. Upon arrival, a medical staff assessed his physical condition. After treatment, a medical attendant gave him fresh civilian clothes: a shirt and a set of pale jeans.

The soldier, 28, stated a first-person view drone caused a minor injury in his leg.

A different casualty, thirty-eight-year-old Pavlo Filipchuk, said a UAV explosion had resulted in concussion. “My position was in a dugout. It suddenly went dark. I couldn’t feel any feeling or hear anything,” he explained. “I believe I was fortunate to survive. A relative has been lost. There are ongoing explosions.” A construction worker working in a neighboring country, Filipchuk said he had come back to Ukraine and enlisted to fight shortly before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in early 2022.

Another military member, a serviceman, had been hit in the back. He expressed pain as medical staff placed him on a medical cot, removed a stained bandage and treated his recent injury from fragments. Covered in a foil blanket, he used a mobile phone to ring his sister. “A fragment of artillery hit me. The cause was a ricochet. I’m OK,” he told her. What were his plans now? “To recover. This may require a few months. After that, to go back to my unit. Our forces must protect our country,” he affirmed.

Doctors treat the wounded soldier, who was injured in the dorsal area by a piece of mortar.

Since 2022, enemy forces has consistently targeted medical centers, health facilities, maternity wards and emergency vehicles. According to human rights groups, 261 medical personnel have been killed in almost 2,000 attacks. The underground facility is built from four steel bunkers, with timber beams, soil and granular material placed above up to ground level. It is designed to resist direct hits from 152mm projectiles and even three eight-kilogram explosive devices released by drone.

The Ukrainian industrial group, which financed the construction, plans to erect twenty facilities in all. The head of Ukraine’s national security council and ex- defence minister, the official, declared they would be “vitally essential for preserving the survival of our military and supporting troops on the frontline.” The organization referred to the initiative as the “most ambitious and demanding” it had implemented since the enemy's invasion.

An example of the facility's surgical rooms.

Holovashchenko, explained some injured soldiers had to endure delays many hours or even multiple days before they could be transported due to the danger of air assaults. “Our facility received a pair of critically ill patients who arrived at the early hours. It was necessary to carry out a double amputation on a patient. His tourniquet had been applied for so long there was no alternative.” What is his method with traumatic surgeries? “My career in healthcare for 20 years. One must focus,” he remarked.

Medical assistants transported the soldier through the passage and into an ambulance. The vehicle was stationed beneath a shrub. He and the two other military members were transferred to the city of a major city for further treatment. The subterranean hospital staff took a break. The hospital’s orange feline, the mascot, padded up to the entrance to greet the incoming patients. “Our facility operates open around the clock,” Holovashchenko stated. “The work is continuous.”