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Sparse foliage conceal the entryway. One descending timber passageway leads down to a well-illuminated reception area. Inside lies a surgery unit, outfitted with beds, cardiac monitors and breathing machines. Plus cabinets stocked of medical equipment, drugs and organized stacks of extra garments. Within a break area with a washing machine and hot water heater, doctors monitor a display. It shows the movements of enemy spy drones as they weave in the sky above.

Hospital personnel at an underground hospital look at a screen showing enemy kamikaze and surveillance UAVs in the region.

This is Ukraine’s secret underground medical facility. This center began operations in the eighth month and is the second of its kind, situated in eastern Ukraine close to the combat zone and the city of a key location in Donetsk oblast. “Our facility sits 6 metres below the ground. This is the safest way of providing help to our injured military personnel. And it keeps medical personnel safe,” stated the facility's surgeon, Maj the chief surgeon.

This medical station handles 30-40 casualties a each day. Their conditions vary. Certain individuals suffer from devastating leg injuries requiring surgical removal, or serious abdominal injuries. Some patients can move on their own. Almost all are the victims of Russian first-person view (FPV) aerial devices, which drop explosives with lethal accuracy. “Ninety per cent of our patients are from first-person view drones. We encounter few gunshot wounds. This is an era of unmanned aircraft and a new type of war,” the surgeon said.

Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko at the subterranean installation for treating wounded troops in the eastern region.

On one day recently, three military members limped into the facility. The least severely hurt, twenty-eight-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, reported an FPV blast had ripped a minor wound in his limb. “War is horrific. My comrade beside me, a fellow soldier, was fatally wounded,” he said. “He fell down. Then the enemy forces dropped a another grenade on him.” He continued: “All structures in the village is destroyed. We see UAVs all around and bodies. Our side's and theirs.”

The soldier said his squad spent over a month in a forest area near Pokrovsk, which enemy forces has been trying to seize for many months. The only way to reach their position was by walking. All supplies arrived by drone: food and water. Seven days after he was hurt, he walked five kilometers (roughly three miles), taking several hours, to a point where an military transport was able to pick him up. At the clinic, a medical staff assessed his vital signs. After treatment, a nurse gave him new non-military attire: a shirt and a pair of pale denim trousers.

The soldier, 28, stated a first-person view aerial device caused a small hole in his leg.

A different casualty, thirty-eight-year-old Pavlo Filipchuk, said a drone blast had left him with concussion. “My position was in a trench shelter. It suddenly went dark. I lost sensation any feeling or hear anything,” he explained. “I believe I was fortunate to survive. A relative has been lost. There are ongoing explosions.” A builder employed in a neighboring country, Filipchuk said he had returned to his homeland and volunteered to serve shortly before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in February 2022.

A third soldier, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been struck in the upper body. He groaned as medical staff laid him on a bed, removed a stained bandage and treated his two-day-old injury from fragments. Covered in a foil blanket, he used a cellphone to ring his sister. “A fragment of artillery struck me. The cause was a deflected projectile. I’m OK,” he informed her. What comes next for him? “To get better. That will take a few months. Subsequently, to return to my unit. Someone has to defend our nation,” 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 hospitals, clinics, obstetric units and ambulances. Per human rights groups, 261 health workers have been killed in almost two thousand attacks. This subterranean hospital is constructed from four reinforced shelters, with timber beams, earth and granular material placed above reaching ground level. It can withstand direct hits from large-caliber projectiles and even multiple 8kg TNT charges released by aerial means.

A major steel and mining company, which funded the building, intends to build 20 units in total. The head of Ukraine’s national security council and ex- military leader, the official, declared they would be “vitally essential for preserving the survival of our military and assisting troops on the frontline.” The organization described the initiative as the “most ambitious and demanding” it had implemented since the enemy's invasion.

An example of the centre’s operating theatres.

The surgeon, said certain wounded personnel had to endure delays hours or even days before they could be evacuated because of the danger of aerial attacks. “We had a pair of critically ill patients who came at the early hours. It was necessary to carry out a removal of both limbs on one of them. His bleeding control device had been applied for so long there was no alternative.” How did he cope with severe surgeries? “My career in healthcare for two decades. You have to focus,” he remarked.

Medical assistants transported Mykolaichuk up the tunnel and into an ambulance. The vehicle was stationed under a bush. The patient and the other soldiers were transferred to the urban center of a major city for further treatment. The underground medical team took a break. The facility's ginger cat, the mascot, padded toward the entrance to greet the incoming patients. “Our facility operates active around the clock,” the surgeon said. “The work is continuous.”