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Scrubby foliage conceal the entrance. One sloping wooden tunnel descends to a well-illuminated reception area. There is a surgery unit, equipped with beds, cardiac monitors and breathing machines. And cabinets full of healthcare supplies, medications and neat piles of extra garments. In a break area with a laundry appliance and hot water heater, physicians monitor a screen. The screen reveals the movements of enemy surveillance UAVs as they weave in the air above.

Hospital personnel at an underground medical center look at a screen showing enemy suicide and reconnaissance drones in the region.

Welcome to Ukraine’s secret underground hospital. The facility began operations in August and is the second such installation, located in the eastern part of the country not far from the frontline and the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk oblast. “We are 6 metres under the ground. This is the safest way of delivering care to our injured soldiers. It also ensures healthcare workers safe,” stated the clinic’s lead doctor, Major the chief surgeon.

The stabilisation point handles thirty to forty patients a each day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from devastating leg injuries necessitating surgical removal, or severe abdominal injuries. Some patients can walk. Almost all are the casualties of Russian FPV drones, which drop grenades with deadly accuracy. “Ninety per cent of our cases are from first-person view drones. We see few gunshot wounds. This is an era of drones and a new type of conflict,” the doctor explained.

Major Oleksandr Holovashchenko at the underground installation for caring for wounded troops in the eastern region.

During one day last week, three military members limped into the hospital. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, reported an FPV explosion had ripped a minor wound in his limb. “Conflict is terrible. The guy next to me, Vasyl, was killed,” he said. “He collapsed. Subsequently the Russians released a another explosive on him.” He continued: “All structures in the village is destroyed. There are drones all around and bodies. Ours and the enemy's.”

The soldier said his squad endured 43 days in a wooded zone close to Pokrovsk, which Russia has been attempting to capture since last year. The only way to get to their location was on foot. Necessary provisions came by drone: food and water. Seven days following he was injured, he walked 5km (roughly three miles), taking several hours, to a point where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. At the clinic, a medic assessed his physical condition. After treatment, a nurse gave him fresh civilian clothes: a T-shirt and a pair of pale jeans.

The soldier, twenty-eight, stated a first-person view aerial device caused a minor injury in his lower limb.

A different casualty, 38-year-old a serviceman, said a drone blast had resulted in concussion. “I was in a trench shelter. It suddenly became black. I lost sensation anything or hear anything,” he said. “I think I was fortunate to remain alive. A relative has been killed. We face ongoing detonations.” A construction worker employed in Lithuania, he noted he had come back to Ukraine and volunteered to fight shortly before Vladimir Putin’s large-scale attack in February 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been struck in the upper body. He groaned as doctors placed him on a medical cot, removed a stained dressing and cleaned his two-day-old shrapnel wound. Wrapped in a foil blanket, he borrowed a mobile phone to ring his sister. “A piece of artillery struck me. It was a deflected projectile. My condition is stable,” he told her. What were his plans now? “To get better. That will take a few months. After that, to return to my military group. Our forces must defend our country,” he affirmed.

Doctors treat the wounded soldier, who was hit in the dorsal area by a piece of artillery shell.

Since 2022, Russia has repeatedly targeted medical centers, health facilities, maternity wards and ambulances. According to international monitors, 261 medical personnel have been killed in nearly two thousand attacks. The underground facility is constructed from four steel bunkers, with wooden supports, earth and sand placed above up to the surface. It can withstand direct hits from large-caliber projectiles and even multiple 8kg explosive devices released by aerial means.

A major steel and mining company, which funded the building, intends to erect 20 units in total. A senior official of Ukraine’s national security council and ex- military leader, Rustem Umerov, said they would be “critically important for preserving the survival of our military and assisting defenders on the battlefront.” The organization referred to the project as the “most ambitious and challenging” it had implemented after the enemy's invasion.

An example of the centre’s surgical rooms.

Holovashchenko, explained certain wounded soldiers had to wait hours or even days before they could be evacuated because of the danger of air assaults. “Our facility received a pair of severely injured patients who came at the early hours. I had to carry out a double amputation on one of them. His bleeding control device had been applied for so long there was no other option.” What is his method with traumatic surgeries? “My career in medicine for two decades. You have to concentrate,” he said.

Medical assistants transported Mykolaichuk through the passage and into an emergency vehicle. The transport was stationed under a bush. The patient and the other soldiers were transferred to the urban center of a major city for additional medical care. The underground medical team took a break. The facility's ginger cat, the mascot, padded up to the entrance to greet the incoming patients. “We are open around the clock,” Holovashchenko said. “The work is continuous.”