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Sparse trees conceal the entryway. One descending wooden passageway descends to a brightly lit welcome zone. Inside lies a surgery unit, outfitted with gurneys, cardiac monitors and ventilators. And shelves full of healthcare supplies, medications and organized stacks of spare clothes. Within a break area with a washing machine and kettle, doctors keep an eye on a display. The screen reveals the flight patterns of enemy surveillance UAVs as they weave in the sky above.

Medical staff at an subterranean hospital look at a monitor showing enemy suicide and reconnaissance drones in the area.

Welcome to the nation's covert underground hospital. The facility opened in the eighth month and is the second of its kind, situated in eastern Ukraine close to the frontline and the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk oblast. “We are six meters under the ground. This is the safest method of providing help to our wounded soldiers. And it keeps medical personnel protected,” said the facility's lead doctor, Major Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

The stabilisation point handles thirty to forty patients a each day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from devastating limb trauma requiring amputations, or serious stomach wounds. Others can move on their own. Almost all are the casualties of Russian FPV drones, which drop grenades with deadly precision. “Ninety per cent of our cases are from first-person view drones. We see minimal bullet injuries. It’s an age of drones and a new type of war,” the surgeon explained.

Maj the senior surgeon at the underground facility for caring for injured soldiers in eastern Ukraine.

On one day last week, a group of three soldiers walked with difficulty into the hospital. The most lightly injured, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, reported an first-person view drone explosion had torn a small hole in his leg. “War is terrible. The guy next to me, Vasyl, was killed,” he stated. “He fell down. Then the Russians dropped a second explosive on him.” He added: “Everything in the settlement is demolished. We see drones all around and casualties. Our side's and the enemy's.”

The soldier explained his squad endured 43 days in a wooded zone close to Pokrovsk, which enemy forces has been trying to seize for many months. The only way to get to their location was by walking. Necessary provisions came by drone: food and drinking water. A week following he was injured, he traveled 5km (about 3 miles), taking several hours, to a point where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. Upon arrival, a medic checked his vital signs. After treatment, a medical attendant gave him new non-military attire: a T-shirt and a set of light-colored jeans.

The soldier, twenty-eight, stated a first-person view drone ripped a minor injury in his lower limb.

A different casualty, thirty-eight-year-old Pavlo Filipchuk, said a drone blast had resulted in concussion. “My position was in a dugout. Suddenly it went dark. I couldn’t feel any feeling or any sound,” he said. “I think I was fortunate to survive. A relative has been lost. There are ongoing detonations.” A builder employed in Lithuania, Filipchuk noted he had come back to his homeland and enlisted to serve days before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in early 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been hit in the upper body. He groaned as medical staff placed him on a bed, took off a stained dressing and treated his recent injury from fragments. Covered in a thermal sheet, he borrowed a cellphone to ring his sister. “A piece of mortar hit me. It was a ricochet. My condition is stable,” he informed her. What comes next for him? “To get better. That will take a few months. Subsequently, to return to my unit. Someone must defend our country,” he said.

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

Since 2022, Russia has repeatedly attacked medical centers, health facilities, obstetric units and ambulances. According to international monitors, 261 health workers have been fatally attacked in almost 2,000 assaults. This subterranean hospital is constructed from multiple reinforced shelters, with wooden supports, soil and granular material placed above reaching ground level. It can withstand direct hits from 152mm projectiles and even three eight-kilogram explosive devices dropped by aerial means.

A major industrial group, which funded the construction, plans to erect 20 facilities in all. The head of the nation's national security council and ex- military leader, the official, declared they would be “vitally essential for preserving the lives of our armed forces and supporting defenders on the frontline.” The company referred to the project as the “most ambitious and demanding” it had undertaken since the enemy's invasion.

An example of the centre’s surgical rooms.

Holovashchenko, said certain injured soldiers had to wait many hours or even days before they could be transported due to the danger of aerial attacks. “Our facility received a pair of critically ill patients who arrived at the early hours. It was necessary to perform a double amputation on a patient. His bleeding control device had been applied for so long there was no other option.” How did he cope with severe operations? “My career in healthcare for 20 years. One must concentrate,” he remarked.

Orderlies transported the soldier through the passage and into an emergency vehicle. The transport was stationed under a bush. The patient and the two other soldiers were transferred to the city of Dnipro for additional medical care. The underground medical team paused for rest. The hospital’s orange feline, Vasilevs, padded up to the entrance to greet the incoming patients. “Our facility operates open 24 hours a day,” the surgeon said. “The work is continuous.”