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Sparse trees hide the entryway. One descending timber passageway descends to a brightly lit reception area. Inside lies a surgery unit, equipped with gurneys, cardiac monitors and ventilators. And shelves stocked of healthcare supplies, drugs and neat piles of extra garments. Within a break area with a washing machine and kettle, doctors monitor a display. The screen reveals the flight patterns of Russian surveillance UAVs as they zigzag in the air above.

Hospital personnel at an subterranean medical center observe a monitor showing enemy suicide and surveillance drones in the area.

This is the nation's covert below-ground medical facility. This center opened in the eighth month and is the second of its kind, located in eastern Ukraine not far from the combat zone and the urban area of Pokrovsk in Donetsk oblast. “We are 6 metres under the earth. It’s the most secure way of providing help to our injured military personnel. And it keeps healthcare workers protected,” stated the facility's surgeon, Major the chief surgeon.

The stabilisation point handles 30-40 patients a each day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from catastrophic limb trauma requiring surgical removal, or serious stomach wounds. Some patients can move on their own. The vast majority are the victims of enemy FPV aerial devices, which release grenades with lethal accuracy. “90% of our cases are from FPVs. We encounter minimal bullet injuries. This is an era of drones and a different kind of conflict,” the surgeon explained.

Maj the senior surgeon at the subterranean installation for treating wounded troops in the eastern region.

On one afternoon recently, a group of three soldiers limped into the hospital. The most lightly injured, twenty-eight-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, reported an FPV blast had ripped a small hole in his limb. “Conflict is horrific. The guy beside me, a fellow soldier, was killed,” he stated. “He fell down. Subsequently the Russians dropped a another explosive on him.” He continued: “All structures in the village is destroyed. There are drones everywhere and bodies. Our side's and the enemy's.”

The soldier explained his unit spent 43 days in a forest area near Pokrovsk, which Russia has been attempting to capture for many months. Sole access to get to their position was on foot. Necessary provisions came by drone: food and water. A week following he was hurt, he walked five kilometers (about 3 miles), requiring several hours, to where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. At the clinic, a medical staff assessed his physical condition. Following care, a medical attendant gave him fresh non-military attire: a shirt and a set of pale jeans.

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

A different casualty, 38-year-old Pavlo Filipchuk, recounted a drone blast had resulted in a head injury. “My position was in a dugout. It suddenly became black. I lost sensation any feeling or any sound,” he said. “I believe I was lucky to survive. My cousin has been lost. There are ongoing explosions.” A construction worker employed in Lithuania, he said he had come back to his homeland and enlisted to serve days before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in early 2022.

A third soldier, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been hit in the upper body. He expressed pain as medical staff placed him on a medical cot, removed a bloody bandage and treated his recent shrapnel wound. Covered in a foil blanket, he used a mobile phone to call his family member. “A piece of artillery struck me. It was a ricochet. My condition is stable,” he told her. What were his plans now? “To get better. This may require a few months. After that, to go back to my military group. Someone has to protect our nation,” he affirmed.

Doctors care for the wounded soldier, who was injured in the dorsal area by a fragment of mortar.

Over the past years, Russia has consistently targeted medical centers, health facilities, maternity wards and emergency vehicles. According to international monitors, over two hundred medical personnel have been fatally attacked in almost 2,000 attacks. This subterranean hospital is built from four steel bunkers, with wooden supports, earth and granular material placed above reaching ground level. It can withstand impacts from 152mm artillery shells and even three eight-kilogram TNT charges dropped by aerial means.

The Ukrainian steel and mining company, which funded the building, intends to erect twenty facilities in total. The head of the nation's national security council and former military leader, Rustem Umerov, said they would be “vitally important for preserving the survival of our armed forces and supporting troops on the frontline.” The organization referred to the initiative as the “most ambitious and demanding” it had undertaken since Russia’s invasion.

An example of the facility's surgical rooms.

The surgeon, explained some injured soldiers had to endure delays hours or even days before they could be evacuated because of the threat of aerial attacks. “Our facility received two critically ill patients who arrived at 3am. It was necessary to carry out a double amputation on a patient. The soldier's tourniquet had been applied for such an extended period there was no alternative.” What is his method with severe surgeries? “My career in healthcare for two decades. One must concentrate,” he remarked.

Orderlies transported the soldier up the tunnel and into an ambulance. The transport was stationed beneath a bush. He and the other military members were taken to the urban center of Dnipro for further treatment. The subterranean medical team paused for rest. The facility's orange feline, Vasilevs, walked toward the entrance to greet the next arrivals. “We are open 24 hours a day,” Holovashchenko stated. “It doesn’t stop.”