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Scrubby foliage conceal the entryway. One descending timber tunnel descends to a well-illuminated reception area. Inside lies a surgery unit, equipped with gurneys, heart rate sensors and breathing machines. And cabinets stocked of healthcare supplies, medications and neat piles of extra garments. In a staff room with a washing machine and kettle, doctors keep an eye on a display. It shows the movements of enemy surveillance UAVs as they zigzag in the air above.

Medical personnel at an subterranean hospital observe a monitor displaying Russian suicide and surveillance drones in the area.

This is Ukraine’s covert below-ground hospital. The facility began operations in the eighth month and is the second of its kind, located in the eastern part of the country close to the frontline and the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. “We are six meters below the ground. It’s the safest method of delivering care to our wounded military personnel. It also ensures medical personnel safe,” said the facility's surgeon, Major Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

This medical station handles thirty to forty patients a day. Their conditions vary. Some have devastating limb trauma requiring surgical removal, or severe abdominal injuries. Some patients can move on their own. Almost all are the victims of Russian FPV aerial devices, which release grenades with lethal precision. “90% 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.

Major Oleksandr Holovashchenko at the underground facility for caring for injured soldiers in the eastern region.

During one day last week, three soldiers walked with difficulty into the hospital. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, said an first-person view drone explosion had torn a small hole in his limb. “War is horrific. My comrade next to me, Vasyl, was fatally wounded,” he said. “He collapsed. Then the enemy forces dropped a second grenade on him.” He added: “Everything in the village is destroyed. We see UAVs everywhere and casualties. Ours and theirs.”

Dvorskyi said his unit endured over a month in a wooded zone near Pokrovsk, which Russia has been attempting to capture since last year. The only way to reach their position was by walking. All supplies arrived by drone: food and drinking water. Seven days after he was injured, he walked 5km (roughly three miles), requiring three hours, to a point where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. Upon arrival, a medic checked his physical condition. After treatment, a nurse gave him new civilian clothes: a shirt and a pair of pale denim trousers.

The soldier, 28, said a first-person view aerial device ripped a minor injury in his lower limb.

A different casualty, thirty-eight-year-old a serviceman, said a drone blast had resulted in concussion. “My position was in a dugout. Suddenly it became black. I couldn’t feel anything or any sound,” he said. “I believe I was fortunate to survive. A relative has been lost. We face ongoing detonations.” A construction worker working in Lithuania, Filipchuk said he had returned to Ukraine and volunteered to serve days before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in early 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been hit in the back. He groaned as doctors placed him on a medical cot, removed a stained 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. I’m OK,” he informed her. What were his plans now? “To get better. That will take a few months. After that, to return to my unit. Someone has to protect our country,” he said.

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

Since 2022, enemy forces has consistently targeted medical centers, clinics, maternity wards and emergency vehicles. According to human rights groups, 261 medical personnel have been fatally attacked in almost 2,000 assaults. This subterranean hospital is built from multiple reinforced shelters, with timber beams, earth and sand placed above reaching ground level. It is designed to resist direct hits from 152mm artillery shells and even three eight-kilogram explosive devices released by aerial means.

A major steel and mining company, which funded the building, plans to erect 20 units in total. A senior official of the nation's security agency and ex- military leader, the official, said they would be “vitally essential for saving the survival of our armed forces and supporting defenders on the frontline.” The company referred to the initiative as the “largest-scale and challenging” it had undertaken after Russia’s military offensive.

An example of the facility's surgical rooms.

Holovashchenko, said certain injured soldiers had to endure delays hours or even multiple days before they could be evacuated because of the danger of aerial attacks. “We had two critically ill patients who arrived at 3am. I had to perform a double amputation on a patient. His bleeding control device had been applied for so long there was no alternative.” How did he cope with severe operations? “My career in healthcare for 20 years. You have to focus,” he said.

Medical assistants transported Mykolaichuk through the passage and into an emergency vehicle. The transport was stationed beneath a bush. He and the other soldiers were transferred to the urban center of a major city for additional medical care. The subterranean medical team took a break. The facility's orange feline, the mascot, padded toward the doorway to await the next arrivals. “Our facility operates active around the clock,” the surgeon stated. “It doesn’t stop.”