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Sparse foliage conceal the entryway. A descending timber passageway descends to a brightly lit reception area. Inside lies a operating ward, outfitted with beds, cardiac monitors and breathing machines. And cabinets full of healthcare supplies, drugs and organized stacks of extra garments. In a break area with a laundry appliance and hot water heater, physicians keep an eye on a display. The screen reveals the flight patterns of enemy spy drones as they zigzag in the air above.

Hospital staff at an subterranean medical center look at a screen showing enemy kamikaze and reconnaissance drones in the area.

Welcome to the nation's secret underground medical facility. This center began operations in August and is the second of its kind, located in eastern Ukraine close to the combat zone and the urban area of a key location in Donetsk oblast. “We are 6 metres under the ground. This is the most secure way of delivering care to our wounded military personnel. And it keeps healthcare workers protected,” said the clinic’s lead doctor, Major the chief surgeon.

This medical station handles thirty to forty patients a day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from catastrophic leg injuries necessitating surgical removal, or serious stomach wounds. Others can move on their own. Almost all are the casualties of enemy first-person view (FPV) aerial devices, which drop explosives with deadly accuracy. “Ninety per cent of our patients are from FPVs. We see few bullet injuries. This is an age of unmanned aircraft and a new type of war,” the doctor said.

Maj the senior surgeon at the subterranean installation for caring for wounded troops in eastern Ukraine.

During one afternoon recently, a group of three military members walked with difficulty into the facility. The least severely hurt, twenty-eight-year-old one soldier, said an FPV blast had ripped a minor wound in his leg. “Conflict is terrible. My comrade beside me, Vasyl, was killed,” he said. “He fell down. Then the enemy forces released a second grenade on him.” He added: “All structures in the settlement is destroyed. There are UAVs everywhere and bodies. Ours and the enemy's.”

The soldier explained his unit endured 43 days in a forest area near the city, which enemy forces has been trying to seize for many months. Sole access to get to their location was by walking. All supplies came by drone: rations and drinking water. A week after he was injured, he traveled 5km (about 3 miles), requiring three hours, to where an armoured vehicle was able to pick him up. At the clinic, a medic checked his physical condition. Following care, a medical attendant gave him fresh civilian clothes: a shirt and a set of light-colored denim trousers.

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

A different casualty, thirty-eight-year-old a serviceman, said a UAV explosion had left him with 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 fortunate to remain alive. A relative has been lost. There are continuous detonations.” A construction worker working in Lithuania, he noted he had returned to Ukraine and volunteered to fight shortly before Vladimir Putin’s large-scale attack in February 2022.

A third soldier, a serviceman, had been struck in the upper body. He groaned as doctors placed him on a medical cot, took off a bloody bandage and treated his two-day-old injury from fragments. Wrapped in a foil blanket, he borrowed a mobile phone to call his family member. “A piece of mortar struck me. It was a deflected projectile. My condition is stable,” he told her. What were his plans now? “To get better. That will take a several months. After that, to go back to my unit. Someone has to defend our country,” he affirmed.

Medical staff care for the wounded soldier, who was injured in the back by a piece of mortar.

Over the past years, enemy forces has consistently targeted hospitals, health facilities, maternity wards and emergency vehicles. Per human rights groups, over two hundred health workers have been fatally attacked in nearly two thousand attacks. The underground facility is constructed from multiple steel bunkers, with wooden supports, earth and granular material laid on top up to the surface. It is designed to resist impacts from large-caliber projectiles and even three 8kg explosive devices dropped by drone.

The Ukrainian steel and mining company, which financed the construction, intends to erect 20 facilities in all. The head of the nation's security agency and former defence minister, the official, declared they would be “vitally essential for saving the survival of our military and assisting defenders on the battlefront.” The company referred to the project as the “most ambitious and demanding” it had implemented since Russia’s military offensive.

An example of the centre’s surgical rooms.

The surgeon, explained certain wounded personnel had to endure delays many hours or even days before they could be transported because of the threat of air assaults. “We had two severely injured casualties who arrived at 3am. I had to carry out a double amputation on one of them. 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 healthcare for 20 years. One must concentrate,” he said.

Orderlies transported the soldier up the passage and into an emergency vehicle. The transport was stationed beneath a shrub. He and the two other military members were transferred to the city of Dnipro for further treatment. The underground medical team paused for rest. The hospital’s ginger cat, Vasilevs, padded toward the entrance to greet the incoming patients. “Our facility operates open around the clock,” Holovashchenko said. “The work is continuous.”