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Sparse trees hide the entryway. A descending timber tunnel leads down to a brightly lit welcome zone. There is a surgery unit, outfitted with gurneys, cardiac monitors and breathing machines. And cabinets full of healthcare supplies, medications and neat piles of extra garments. Within a break area with a laundry appliance and kettle, doctors monitor a display. The screen reveals the flight patterns of enemy surveillance UAVs as they zigzag in the air above.

Medical staff at an subterranean medical center look at a screen showing enemy suicide and surveillance drones in the region.

This is the nation's secret below-ground hospital. This center began operations in August and is the second of its kind, situated in the eastern part of the country not far from the frontline and the urban area of Pokrovsk in Donetsk oblast. “Our facility sits six meters below the ground. It’s the safest method of providing help to our injured soldiers. And it keeps healthcare workers protected,” stated the clinic’s surgeon, Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

The stabilisation point handles 30-40 patients a day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from catastrophic leg injuries requiring surgical removal, or severe abdominal injuries. Others can move on their own. Almost all are the victims of Russian first-person view (FPV) drones, which drop explosives with deadly precision. “Ninety per cent of our cases are from first-person view drones. We see minimal gunshot wounds. It’s an age of unmanned aircraft and a different kind of war,” the surgeon said.

Maj the senior surgeon at the underground installation for caring for injured soldiers in the eastern region.

On one day recently, a group of three soldiers walked with difficulty into the hospital. The most lightly injured, twenty-eight-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, said an first-person view drone blast had ripped a small hole in his limb. “War is horrific. My comrade next to me, Vasyl, was killed,” he said. “He collapsed. Then the Russians released a another explosive on him.” He added: “Everything in the village is destroyed. There are UAVs everywhere and bodies. Ours and the enemy's.”

Dvorskyi explained his unit endured over a month in a wooded zone close to the city, which enemy forces has been attempting to capture since last year. Sole access to get to their location was by walking. All supplies came by drone: food and water. A week following he was injured, he walked five kilometers (about 3 miles), taking several hours, to a point where an military transport was able to pick him up. Upon arrival, a medical staff assessed his vital signs. After treatment, a medical attendant provided him with new civilian clothes: a T-shirt and a pair of pale jeans.

The soldier, twenty-eight, stated a first-person view aerial device ripped a minor injury in his leg.

A different casualty, thirty-eight-year-old a serviceman, recounted a drone blast had left him with concussion. “My position was in a dugout. It suddenly became black. I lost sensation any feeling or hear anything,” he said. “I believe I was lucky to remain alive. My cousin has been killed. We face continuous explosions.” A builder employed in a neighboring country, Filipchuk said he had returned to his homeland and volunteered to fight days before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in February 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been struck in the back. He groaned as doctors laid him on a bed, took off a stained dressing and cleaned his two-day-old injury from fragments. Covered in a thermal sheet, he borrowed a cellphone to ring his sister. “A fragment of artillery struck me. The cause was a deflected projectile. My condition is stable,” he informed her. What were his plans now? “To get better. That will take a several months. Subsequently, to return to my military group. Our forces must protect our country,” he said.

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

Over the past years, enemy forces has repeatedly targeted hospitals, health facilities, maternity wards and emergency vehicles. Per international monitors, 261 health workers have been killed in almost 2,000 assaults. The underground facility is constructed from multiple reinforced shelters, with timber beams, soil and granular material laid on top up to the surface. It can withstand direct hits from 152mm artillery shells and even three eight-kilogram TNT charges released by aerial means.

A major steel and mining company, which financed the construction, intends to build 20 units in total. The head of the nation's security agency and ex- military leader, the official, declared they would be “critically essential for preserving the survival of our armed forces and assisting troops on the frontline.” The organization referred to the initiative as the “largest-scale and challenging” it had implemented since Russia’s invasion.

An example of the facility's surgical rooms.

The surgeon, said certain injured personnel had to wait hours or even multiple days before they could be transported due to the danger of air assaults. “We had a pair of severely injured patients who came at the early hours. I had to perform a removal of both limbs on one of them. His tourniquet had been on for so long there was no other option.” What is his method with traumatic operations? “I’ve been healthcare for 20 years. One must concentrate,” he said.

Medical assistants wheeled the soldier through the tunnel and into an ambulance. The vehicle was stationed under a bush. The patient and the two other soldiers were taken to the urban center of a major city for additional medical care. The subterranean hospital staff took a break. The hospital’s ginger cat, Vasilevs, padded toward the entrance to greet the incoming patients. “We are active around the clock,” the surgeon stated. “The work is continuous.”