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Scrubby trees conceal the entrance. A sloping timber tunnel descends to a well-illuminated reception area. Inside lies a operating ward, outfitted with beds, cardiac monitors and breathing machines. Plus shelves full of medical equipment, medications and organized stacks of extra garments. Within a staff room with a washing machine and kettle, doctors keep an eye on a screen. It shows the movements of enemy spy drones as they weave in the air above.

Hospital personnel at an subterranean hospital observe a monitor showing Russian suicide and reconnaissance UAVs in the area.

Welcome to the nation's covert underground medical facility. This center began operations in August and is the second of its kind, located in eastern Ukraine close to the combat zone and the urban area of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. “Our facility sits six meters below the ground. This is the most secure way of delivering care to our wounded soldiers. It also ensures healthcare workers safe,” stated the facility's surgeon, Maj the chief surgeon.

The stabilisation point handles 30-40 casualties a day. Cases differ widely. Some have devastating limb trauma necessitating amputations, or severe stomach wounds. Others can walk. The vast majority are the casualties of enemy first-person view (FPV) aerial devices, which release grenades with deadly precision. “90% of our cases are from FPVs. We see minimal gunshot wounds. It’s an era of unmanned aircraft and a different kind of war,” the doctor said.

Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko at the underground installation for treating injured troops in eastern Ukraine.

During one day recently, three military members walked with difficulty into the facility. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, said an FPV blast had torn a minor wound in his limb. “War is horrific. My comrade next to me, Vasyl, was fatally wounded,” he stated. “He fell down. Subsequently the enemy forces dropped a another explosive on him.” He continued: “Everything in the settlement is destroyed. We see UAVs all around and casualties. Our side's and theirs.”

Dvorskyi said his unit spent over a month in a wooded zone near the city, which enemy forces has been trying to seize for many months. The only way to get to their location was on foot. Necessary provisions came by quadcopter: rations and water. Seven days after he was hurt, he walked five kilometers (about 3 miles), requiring several hours, to a point where an military transport was able to evacuate him. At the clinic, a medical staff checked his physical condition. After treatment, a medical attendant gave him fresh non-military attire: a shirt and a set of pale jeans.

The soldier, 28, stated a first-person view drone ripped a small hole in his lower limb.

Another patient, thirty-eight-year-old a serviceman, said a drone blast had left him with concussion. “I was in a dugout. Suddenly it went dark. I lost sensation any feeling or any sound,” he explained. “I think I was lucky to survive. A relative has been killed. There are continuous explosions.” A builder employed in a neighboring country, he said he had come back to his homeland and enlisted to serve days before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in February 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been hit in the upper body. He expressed pain as doctors placed him on a medical cot, removed a stained bandage and cleaned his recent shrapnel wound. Covered in a foil blanket, he used a mobile phone to call his family member. “A fragment of artillery struck me. The cause was a deflected projectile. My condition is stable,” he told her. What comes next for him? “To get better. That will take a several months. After that, to go back to my military group. Someone has to protect our country,” he said.

Medical staff treat Taras Mykolaichuk, who was injured in the dorsal area by a piece of mortar.

Over the past years, enemy forces has consistently targeted medical centers, health facilities, maternity wards and ambulances. According to international monitors, over two hundred medical personnel have been fatally attacked in almost 2,000 attacks. The underground facility is constructed from multiple reinforced shelters, with wooden supports, soil and granular material placed above reaching the surface. It can withstand impacts from large-caliber projectiles and even multiple eight-kilogram TNT charges released by aerial means.

The Ukrainian industrial group, which financed the construction, plans to erect 20 facilities in total. The head of the nation's security agency and former military leader, the official, said they would be “vitally important for preserving the survival of our armed forces and supporting defenders on the battlefront.” The organization referred to the initiative as the “largest-scale and demanding” it had implemented since Russia’s invasion.

An example of the facility's operating theatres.

Holovashchenko, explained certain injured personnel had to wait hours or even multiple days before they could be transported because of the danger of air assaults. “We had a pair of critically ill casualties who arrived at 3am. I had to carry out a removal of both limbs on a patient. The soldier's tourniquet had been applied for such an extended period there was no other option.” How did he cope with severe operations? “My career in healthcare for two decades. One must concentrate,” he remarked.

Orderlies transported the soldier up the passage and into an emergency vehicle. The vehicle was stationed beneath a bush. He and the other military members were taken to the city of Dnipro for further treatment. The subterranean hospital staff paused for rest. The hospital’s ginger cat, the mascot, padded up to the entrance to await the next arrivals. “We are active 24 hours a day,” the surgeon stated. “The work is continuous.”