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Scrubby foliage conceal the entrance. A sloping timber tunnel descends to a brightly lit welcome zone. There is a operating ward, equipped with beds, cardiac monitors and breathing machines. Plus shelves stocked of medical equipment, drugs and neat piles of extra garments. In a staff room with a laundry appliance and hot water heater, doctors monitor a screen. The screen reveals the flight patterns of Russian spy drones as they zigzag in the sky above.

Hospital staff at an subterranean hospital observe a monitor showing enemy kamikaze and reconnaissance UAVs in the area.

Welcome to Ukraine’s secret underground medical facility. The facility began operations in the eighth month and is the second of its kind, situated in the eastern part of the country close to the combat zone and the urban area of a key location in Donetsk oblast. “Our facility sits six meters below the earth. It’s the most secure method of providing help to our wounded soldiers. It also ensures healthcare workers safe,” stated the clinic’s surgeon, Major Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

This medical station treats thirty to forty patients a each day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from devastating limb trauma necessitating surgical removal, or severe stomach wounds. Some patients can move on their own. The vast majority are the casualties of Russian first-person view (FPV) drones, which release grenades with deadly precision. “90% of our patients are from FPVs. We see few gunshot wounds. It’s an era of drones and a new type of war,” the surgeon explained.

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

On one afternoon last week, three military members walked with difficulty into the hospital. The most lightly injured, twenty-eight-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, said an first-person view drone explosion had torn a small hole in his limb. “War is horrific. The guy beside me, Vasyl, was killed,” he said. “He collapsed. Then the Russians dropped a another explosive on him.” He continued: “Everything in the village is destroyed. There are drones all around and bodies. Our side's and the enemy's.”

Dvorskyi said his unit endured 43 days in a forest area near Pokrovsk, which enemy forces has been trying to seize for many months. The only way to reach their location was on foot. All supplies arrived by drone: rations and drinking water. Seven days following he was injured, he traveled 5km (about 3 miles), requiring several hours, to a point where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. At the clinic, a medical staff assessed his physical condition. Following care, a nurse gave him fresh non-military attire: a T-shirt and a set of light-colored denim trousers.

The soldier, twenty-eight, stated a first-person view drone ripped a small hole in his leg.

A different casualty, 38-year-old Pavlo Filipchuk, said a UAV explosion had resulted in concussion. “My position was in a trench shelter. It suddenly went dark. I lost sensation any feeling or hear anything,” he said. “I believe I was fortunate to remain alive. My cousin has been killed. We face ongoing explosions.” A builder employed in a neighboring country, Filipchuk noted he had returned to his homeland and enlisted to serve days before Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in early 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been hit in the back. He expressed pain as doctors laid him on a medical cot, removed a stained dressing and treated his recent shrapnel wound. Wrapped in a thermal sheet, he used a mobile phone to call his sister. “A piece of mortar struck me. The cause was a ricochet. My condition is stable,” he informed her. What were his plans now? “To recover. This may require a few months. Subsequently, to return to my military group. Someone has to defend our nation,” he said.

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

Over the past years, enemy forces has repeatedly attacked medical centers, clinics, obstetric units and ambulances. Per international monitors, over two hundred health workers have been killed in almost 2,000 assaults. The underground facility is built from four steel bunkers, with wooden supports, earth and sand laid on top reaching the surface. It is designed to resist direct hits from 152mm projectiles and even three eight-kilogram explosive devices dropped by drone.

The Ukrainian steel and mining company, which funded the construction, intends to erect 20 units in all. The head of the nation's security agency and former military leader, Rustem Umerov, said they would be “vitally essential for preserving the survival of our military and supporting troops on the battlefront.” The organization referred to the project as the “most ambitious and demanding” it had implemented since Russia’s military offensive.

An example of the facility's operating theatres.

The surgeon, said some injured soldiers had to wait many hours or even days before they could be transported because of the danger of aerial attacks. “Our facility received two severely injured casualties who arrived at 3am. I had to perform a double amputation on a patient. The soldier's bleeding control device had been on for so long there was no other option.” What is his method with traumatic operations? “My career in medicine for two decades. You have to concentrate,” he remarked.

Medical assistants wheeled Mykolaichuk up the tunnel and into an ambulance. The transport was stationed beneath a shrub. He and the other military members were transferred to the city of Dnipro for further treatment. The underground medical team took a break. The facility's ginger cat, Vasilevs, walked toward the doorway to greet the next arrivals. “Our facility operates open around the clock,” Holovashchenko stated. “The work is continuous.”