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Scrubby foliage hide the entryway. A sloping wooden passageway leads down to a well-illuminated reception area. There is a operating ward, equipped with gurneys, heart rate sensors and breathing machines. And cabinets stocked of medical equipment, medications and neat piles of extra garments. In a break area with a laundry appliance and kettle, physicians monitor a screen. The screen reveals the movements of Russian surveillance UAVs as they zigzag in the sky above.

Hospital personnel at an subterranean hospital observe a screen showing enemy suicide and surveillance UAVs in the area.

Welcome to Ukraine’s secret below-ground hospital. This center began operations in the eighth month and is the second such installation, located in eastern Ukraine close to the frontline and the city of a key location in the Donetsk region. “Our facility sits six meters under the earth. This is the most secure way of delivering care to our injured soldiers. And it keeps medical personnel safe,” stated the facility's lead doctor, Maj the chief surgeon.

This medical station treats 30-40 casualties a each day. Cases differ widely. Some have catastrophic leg injuries requiring amputations, or severe abdominal injuries. Some patients can move on their own. The vast majority are the casualties of enemy first-person view (FPV) drones, which drop explosives with lethal precision. “90% of our cases are from FPVs. We see few bullet injuries. This is an era of unmanned aircraft and a new type of war,” the doctor explained.

Maj the senior surgeon at the subterranean facility for caring for injured soldiers in the eastern region.

On one afternoon last week, a group of three military members limped into the hospital. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, reported an FPV blast had torn a minor wound in his limb. “War is horrific. The guy next to me, Vasyl, was killed,” he stated. “He fell down. Then the enemy forces released a second grenade on him.” He added: “All structures in the village is demolished. We see drones everywhere and casualties. Ours and theirs.”

The soldier said his unit endured 43 days in a forest area near Pokrovsk, which enemy forces has been attempting to capture since last year. The only way to get to their position was by walking. All supplies came by drone: rations and water. A week after he was hurt, he walked five kilometers (roughly three miles), taking three hours, to where an armoured vehicle was able to pick him up. At the clinic, a medic checked his vital signs. After treatment, a medical attendant provided him with new non-military attire: a shirt and a pair of light-colored jeans.

Artem Dvorskiy, 28, stated a FPV drone caused a minor injury in his lower limb.

Another patient, thirty-eight-year-old a serviceman, said a UAV explosion had left him with concussion. “I was in a dugout. It suddenly went dark. I lost sensation any feeling or any sound,” he explained. “I think I was fortunate to survive. My cousin has been lost. There are ongoing explosions.” A builder employed in a neighboring country, he noted he had come back to his homeland and volunteered to serve days before the Russian leader's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Another military member, a serviceman, had been hit in the upper body. He expressed pain as doctors laid him on a bed, removed a bloody bandage and treated his recent injury from fragments. Wrapped in a foil blanket, he used a cellphone to call his sister. “A piece of mortar hit me. It was a ricochet. I’m OK,” he informed her. What were his plans now? “To recover. This may require a several months. After that, to return to my military group. Our forces must defend our nation,” he affirmed.

Medical staff care for the wounded soldier, who was injured in the dorsal area by a fragment of artillery shell.

Since 2022, Russia has repeatedly targeted hospitals, clinics, obstetric units and ambulances. Per human rights groups, over two hundred medical personnel have been fatally attacked in nearly 2,000 assaults. This subterranean hospital is built from four reinforced shelters, with timber beams, soil and sand placed above reaching the surface. It can withstand impacts from large-caliber artillery shells and even multiple 8kg TNT charges dropped by aerial means.

A major steel and mining company, which financed the building, intends to build twenty units in total. A senior official of the nation's security agency and former defence minister, the official, said they would be “vitally important for preserving the survival of our military and assisting troops on the frontline.” The organization referred to the project as the “largest-scale and challenging” it had implemented since Russia’s invasion.

An example of the facility's surgical rooms.

The surgeon, explained some injured personnel had to endure delays many hours or even days before they could be evacuated due to the threat of aerial attacks. “Our facility received a pair of critically ill patients who came at 3am. I had to perform a double amputation on a patient. The soldier's tourniquet had been on for so long there was no other option.” What is his method with traumatic operations? “My career in medicine for 20 years. You have to focus,” he said.

Medical assistants wheeled the soldier up the passage and into an emergency vehicle. The transport was stationed under a shrub. He and the other soldiers were transferred to the city of Dnipro for additional medical care. The underground hospital staff paused for rest. The hospital’s orange feline, the mascot, walked toward the entrance to greet the incoming patients. “Our facility operates active around the clock,” Holovashchenko stated. “The work is continuous.”