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Scrubby foliage conceal the entryway. A descending timber passageway descends to a brightly lit reception area. There is a operating ward, equipped with beds, cardiac monitors and breathing machines. And cabinets stocked of medical equipment, drugs and organized stacks of spare clothes. In a staff room with a laundry appliance and kettle, physicians keep an eye on a display. It shows the flight patterns of Russian spy drones as they weave in the air above.

Medical personnel at an underground medical center observe a monitor displaying Russian kamikaze and surveillance UAVs in the area.

This is the nation's secret underground medical facility. The facility opened in August 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 Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. “We are six meters under the earth. It’s the safest method of delivering care to our injured military personnel. And it keeps healthcare workers protected,” said the clinic’s surgeon, Maj the chief surgeon.

The stabilisation point handles 30-40 casualties a each day. Cases differ widely. Some have devastating leg injuries requiring surgical removal, or severe abdominal injuries. Others can walk. The vast majority are the victims of Russian first-person view (FPV) drones, which release explosives with deadly precision. “Ninety per cent of our patients are from FPVs. We see minimal gunshot wounds. This is an age of drones and a new type of conflict,” the doctor said.

Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko at the subterranean facility for caring for wounded soldiers in eastern Ukraine.

On one day last week, three military members limped into the facility. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old one soldier, said an FPV blast had ripped a minor wound in his leg. “War is horrific. My comrade next to me, a fellow soldier, was killed,” he said. “He collapsed. Then the Russians dropped a second explosive on him.” He added: “All structures in the village is destroyed. There are UAVs all around and bodies. Our side's and theirs.”

Dvorskyi said his squad spent over a month in a forest area close to the city, which enemy forces has been trying to seize since last year. Sole access to reach their location was on foot. Necessary provisions came by drone: rations and water. Seven days after he was hurt, he traveled 5km (roughly three miles), taking three hours, to where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. At the clinic, a medic checked his physical condition. Following care, a medical attendant provided him with fresh non-military attire: a shirt and a set of light-colored denim trousers.

Artem Dvorskiy, 28, stated a FPV drone caused a small hole in his lower limb.

Another patient, thirty-eight-year-old Pavlo Filipchuk, said a UAV explosion had resulted in a head injury. “I was in a dugout. It suddenly went dark. I lost sensation anything or hear anything,” he said. “I think I was lucky to survive. My cousin has been killed. We face ongoing detonations.” A builder employed in a neighboring country, Filipchuk noted he had come back to his homeland and enlisted to serve days before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in February 2022.

A third soldier, a serviceman, had been struck in the upper body. He groaned as medical staff placed him on a medical cot, took off a bloody bandage and treated his recent injury from fragments. Covered in a foil blanket, he used a cellphone to call his family member. “A fragment of mortar struck me. The cause was a deflected projectile. I’m OK,” he informed her. What comes next for him? “To recover. That will take a several months. After that, to go back to my military group. Someone must protect our country,” he affirmed.

Doctors care for the wounded soldier, who was injured in the back by a piece of artillery shell.

Over the past years, enemy forces has repeatedly targeted medical centers, clinics, maternity wards and ambulances. Per international monitors, 261 medical personnel have been killed in nearly two thousand assaults. The underground facility is built from four reinforced shelters, with wooden supports, earth and granular material placed above up to the surface. It can withstand impacts from large-caliber artillery shells and even multiple eight-kilogram explosive devices dropped by drone.

The Ukrainian industrial group, which financed the construction, plans to erect twenty units in all. The head of Ukraine’s security agency and former military leader, the official, declared they would be “critically important for preserving the lives of our armed forces and supporting defenders on the battlefront.” The organization referred to the initiative as the “most ambitious and challenging” it had implemented since Russia’s invasion.

An example of the facility's surgical rooms.

The surgeon, said some injured personnel had to wait hours or even multiple days before they could be transported due to the danger of air assaults. “We had two critically ill casualties who came at 3am. I had to perform a removal of both limbs on a patient. His tourniquet had been on for so long there was no alternative.” How did he cope with traumatic surgeries? “I’ve been healthcare for 20 years. You have to focus,” he remarked.

Orderlies transported the soldier up the tunnel and into an ambulance. The vehicle was parked under a bush. The patient and the two other military members were taken to the urban center of Dnipro for additional medical care. The underground medical team paused for rest. The facility's ginger cat, the mascot, walked up to the entrance to await the next arrivals. “Our facility operates active around the clock,” Holovashchenko stated. “The work is continuous.”