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Sparse trees hide the entryway. One sloping wooden tunnel descends to a brightly lit welcome zone. Inside lies a operating ward, equipped with gurneys, heart rate sensors and breathing machines. And shelves stocked of healthcare supplies, drugs and organized stacks of extra garments. In a staff room with a washing machine and hot water heater, doctors monitor a screen. It shows the flight patterns of enemy spy drones as they zigzag in the sky above.

Medical personnel at an underground medical center observe a screen displaying enemy kamikaze and reconnaissance UAVs in the region.

Welcome to Ukraine’s secret underground hospital. This center opened in August and is the second such installation, located in eastern Ukraine close to the combat zone and the urban area of a key location in Donetsk oblast. “Our facility sits 6 metres under the earth. This is the most secure method of delivering care to our injured soldiers. It also ensures medical personnel protected,” stated the facility's surgeon, Major Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

This medical station treats 30-40 casualties a each day. Their conditions vary. Certain individuals suffer from catastrophic limb trauma requiring surgical removal, or severe abdominal injuries. Some patients can move on their own. Almost all are the victims of enemy FPV drones, which drop grenades with deadly precision. “Ninety per cent of our patients are from FPVs. We see minimal gunshot wounds. This is an era of drones and a new type of war,” the doctor explained.

Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko at the underground facility for treating injured troops in the eastern region.

During one afternoon recently, a group of three military members limped into the hospital. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, reported an FPV explosion had ripped a small hole in his limb. “War is terrible. The guy beside me, Vasyl, was fatally wounded,” he said. “He fell down. Then the enemy forces dropped a second grenade on him.” He added: “All structures in the settlement is demolished. We see drones everywhere 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. Sole access to reach their position was by walking. Necessary provisions arrived by drone: food and drinking water. A week after he was injured, he walked 5km (about 3 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 physical condition. Following care, a nurse gave him fresh non-military attire: a T-shirt and a pair of pale denim trousers.

The soldier, 28, said a FPV drone caused a minor injury in his leg.

A different casualty, 38-year-old a serviceman, recounted a UAV explosion had resulted in concussion. “I was in a dugout. Suddenly it went dark. I couldn’t feel anything or hear anything,” he said. “I think I was lucky to survive. My cousin has been lost. We face continuous explosions.” A construction worker working in Lithuania, he noted he had returned to Ukraine and volunteered to serve days before Vladimir Putin’s large-scale attack in February 2022.

A third soldier, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been struck in the upper body. He groaned as doctors placed him on a medical cot, removed a stained bandage and treated his recent shrapnel wound. Covered in a thermal sheet, he used a mobile phone to ring his sister. “A piece of artillery hit me. It was a deflected projectile. My condition is stable,” he told her. What comes next for him? “To get better. That will take a few months. Subsequently, to go back to my unit. Someone must protect our country,” he affirmed.

Medical staff treat Taras Mykolaichuk, who was injured in the back by a fragment of mortar.

Since 2022, Russia has consistently attacked medical centers, health facilities, maternity wards and emergency vehicles. Per international monitors, 261 medical personnel have been killed in almost 2,000 attacks. 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 impacts from large-caliber artillery shells and even three 8kg explosive devices released by aerial means.

A major industrial group, which financed the building, intends to build twenty units in total. A senior official of the nation's national security council and ex- defence minister, Rustem Umerov, said they would be “vitally essential for preserving the lives of our military and assisting defenders on the battlefront.” The company described the initiative as the “largest-scale and challenging” it had implemented since Russia’s invasion.

One of the centre’s operating theatres.

Holovashchenko, explained certain wounded soldiers had to wait many hours or even multiple days before they could be evacuated due to the threat of air assaults. “Our facility received two severely injured patients who arrived at the early hours. I had to carry out a double amputation on a patient. The soldier's tourniquet had been on for such an extended period there was no other option.” How did he cope with traumatic surgeries? “My career in medicine for 20 years. One must concentrate,” he remarked.

Orderlies wheeled the soldier through the passage and into an ambulance. The transport was parked under a shrub. The patient and the other military members were taken to the city of Dnipro for additional medical care. The underground hospital staff took a break. The hospital’s ginger cat, the mascot, padded up to the entrance to greet the next arrivals. “Our facility operates open around the clock,” Holovashchenko said. “It doesn’t stop.”