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Sparse foliage hide the entrance. A sloping timber tunnel descends to a brightly lit welcome zone. Inside lies a surgery unit, equipped with gurneys, cardiac monitors and breathing machines. And cabinets full of healthcare supplies, drugs and organized stacks of spare clothes. Within a break area with a laundry appliance and hot water heater, physicians monitor a display. The screen reveals the movements of Russian surveillance UAVs as they weave in the sky above.

Hospital personnel at an underground medical center observe a monitor showing Russian kamikaze and reconnaissance UAVs in the area.

Welcome to Ukraine’s covert underground medical facility. This center began operations in August and is the second of its kind, located in the eastern part of the country not far from the combat zone and the urban area of a key location in Donetsk oblast. “We are 6 metres below the ground. This is the most secure way of delivering care to our injured soldiers. And it keeps healthcare workers safe,” stated the facility's lead doctor, Maj the chief surgeon.

This medical station handles thirty to forty patients a day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from devastating limb trauma requiring surgical removal, or serious stomach wounds. Others can move on their own. The vast majority are the victims of enemy FPV aerial devices, which release grenades with lethal accuracy. “Ninety per cent of our patients are from first-person view drones. We see few gunshot wounds. It’s an era of unmanned aircraft and a new type of war,” the surgeon said.

Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko at the subterranean installation for caring for wounded soldiers in the eastern region.

On one day recently, three soldiers limped into the facility. The most lightly injured, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, said an first-person view drone blast had torn a small hole in his limb. “Conflict is horrific. My comrade beside me, Vasyl, was killed,” he stated. “He collapsed. Then the Russians released a second explosive on him.” He added: “Everything in the village is demolished. We see UAVs everywhere and casualties. Ours and the enemy's.”

The soldier explained his squad endured over a month in a forest area near Pokrovsk, which enemy forces has been attempting to capture for many months. The only way to reach their position was on foot. Necessary provisions arrived by drone: rations and water. Seven days after he was injured, he walked five kilometers (about 3 miles), taking several hours, to where an military transport was able to pick him up. Upon arrival, a medic assessed his physical condition. After treatment, a nurse provided him with new non-military attire: a shirt and a pair of light-colored denim trousers.

Artem Dvorskiy, twenty-eight, said a FPV aerial device ripped a small hole in his lower limb.

A different casualty, 38-year-old Pavlo Filipchuk, said a UAV explosion had left him with a head injury. “My position was in a trench shelter. It suddenly went dark. I lost sensation any feeling or any sound,” he explained. “I believe I was fortunate to remain alive. A relative has been killed. We face ongoing explosions.” A construction worker employed in a neighboring country, Filipchuk noted he had come back to his homeland and volunteered to fight shortly before the Russian leader's full-scale invasion in early 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been hit in the back. He expressed pain as medical staff placed him on a medical cot, took off a stained bandage and treated his recent shrapnel wound. Wrapped in a foil blanket, he borrowed a cellphone to ring his sister. “A fragment of mortar hit me. The cause was a deflected projectile. My condition is stable,” he told her. What were his plans now? “To get better. This may require a several months. After that, to return to my military group. Someone must defend our country,” he said.

Medical staff care for Taras Mykolaichuk, who was injured in the back by a fragment of mortar.

Since 2022, enemy forces has consistently targeted medical centers, clinics, maternity wards and ambulances. Per human rights groups, 261 health workers have been fatally attacked in nearly 2,000 assaults. This subterranean hospital is constructed from multiple steel bunkers, with timber beams, earth and granular material placed above up to the surface. It can withstand impacts from 152mm artillery shells and even multiple 8kg explosive devices released by aerial means.

A major steel and mining company, which financed the construction, intends to build twenty units in total. The head of Ukraine’s security agency and ex- defence minister, the official, declared they would be “vitally essential for saving the survival of our military and assisting defenders on the frontline.” The organization referred to the initiative as the “largest-scale and demanding” it had implemented after the enemy's invasion.

An example of the facility's surgical rooms.

Holovashchenko, explained certain wounded personnel had to wait many hours or even multiple days before they could be evacuated because of the danger of air assaults. “Our facility received a pair of severely injured casualties who arrived at 3am. It was necessary to perform a double amputation on a patient. The soldier's tourniquet had been on for so long there was no alternative.” How did he cope with severe surgeries? “I’ve been medicine for two decades. You have to concentrate,” he remarked.

Orderlies wheeled the soldier through the tunnel and into an emergency vehicle. The vehicle was stationed beneath a bush. The patient and the other soldiers were transferred to the urban center of Dnipro for additional medical care. The subterranean medical team took a break. The hospital’s orange feline, the mascot, padded up to the entrance to await the next arrivals. “We are open 24 hours a day,” Holovashchenko said. “The work is continuous.”