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Scrubby trees conceal the entrance. One descending timber tunnel leads down to a brightly lit reception area. There is a operating ward, equipped with beds, cardiac monitors and ventilators. And cabinets stocked of medical equipment, drugs and organized stacks of spare clothes. In a staff room with a washing machine and kettle, doctors keep an eye on a display. The screen reveals the flight patterns of Russian surveillance UAVs as they zigzag in the sky above.

Medical staff at an subterranean hospital observe a screen showing Russian kamikaze and surveillance drones in the area.

Welcome to Ukraine’s secret underground medical facility. This center began operations in August and is the second of its kind, situated in eastern Ukraine close to the frontline and the urban area of a key location in the Donetsk region. “We are six meters under the ground. This is the safest way of providing help to our injured military personnel. It also ensures healthcare workers safe,” said the facility's surgeon, Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

The stabilisation point treats thirty to forty patients a day. Cases differ widely. Some have catastrophic leg injuries requiring amputations, or severe abdominal injuries. Some patients can move on their own. The vast majority are the victims of Russian first-person view (FPV) drones, which release grenades with deadly accuracy. “90% of our cases are from FPVs. We encounter few bullet injuries. It’s an era of unmanned aircraft and a different kind of conflict,” the surgeon said.

Maj the senior surgeon at the underground facility for caring for injured soldiers in the eastern region.

On one day last week, a group of three military members walked with difficulty into the facility. The most lightly injured, 28-year-old one soldier, reported an first-person view drone blast had ripped a small hole in his leg. “Conflict is horrific. The guy beside me, Vasyl, was fatally wounded,” he stated. “He fell down. Subsequently the Russians released a second grenade on him.” He continued: “All structures in the settlement is demolished. There are drones all around and casualties. Our side's and theirs.”

Dvorskyi said his squad endured 43 days in a forest area near Pokrovsk, 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 quadcopter: rations and water. A week after he was hurt, he walked 5km (roughly three miles), taking several hours, to where an military transport was able to evacuate him. Upon arrival, a medic checked his physical condition. After treatment, a nurse provided him with new non-military attire: a shirt and a set of light-colored jeans.

The soldier, 28, said a first-person view aerial device caused a minor injury in his leg.

Another patient, thirty-eight-year-old a serviceman, said a drone blast had resulted in concussion. “My position was in a dugout. It suddenly became black. I lost sensation anything or hear anything,” he said. “I believe I was lucky to remain alive. My cousin has been killed. We face continuous detonations.” A builder employed in Lithuania, Filipchuk noted he had come back to his homeland and enlisted to fight days before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in early 2022.

Another military member, a serviceman, had been hit in the upper body. He groaned as medical staff laid him on a bed, removed a stained dressing and cleaned his two-day-old shrapnel wound. Wrapped in a foil blanket, he borrowed a cellphone to ring his family member. “A piece of artillery hit me. It was a ricochet. My condition is stable,” he told her. What comes next for him? “To get better. This may require a few months. After that, to return to my military group. Our forces must protect our country,” he said.

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

Since 2022, Russia has consistently attacked hospitals, clinics, maternity wards and ambulances. According to international monitors, over two hundred medical personnel have been killed in nearly two thousand attacks. This subterranean hospital is constructed from multiple steel bunkers, with wooden supports, soil and sand laid on top reaching the surface. It is designed to resist direct hits from large-caliber projectiles and even three 8kg explosive devices released by aerial means.

The Ukrainian steel and mining company, which funded the construction, intends to erect 20 units in total. A senior official of the nation's national security council and ex- military leader, Rustem Umerov, said they would be “vitally essential for preserving the lives of our armed forces and assisting troops on the frontline.” The company described the project as the “largest-scale and challenging” it had undertaken since the enemy's invasion.

An example of the facility's surgical rooms.

Holovashchenko, said some wounded soldiers had to wait hours or even days before they could be transported due to the danger of air assaults. “We had a pair of severely injured patients who arrived at 3am. It was necessary to carry out a removal of both limbs on one of them. The soldier's bleeding control device had been on for such an extended period there was no other option.” How did he cope with severe operations? “My career in healthcare for 20 years. One must focus,” he said.

Medical assistants transported the soldier through the passage and into an emergency vehicle. The vehicle was stationed beneath a bush. He and the other military members were transferred to the urban center of a major city for further treatment. The underground hospital staff paused for rest. The hospital’s orange feline, Vasilevs, padded toward the entrance to await the incoming patients. “Our facility operates active around the clock,” Holovashchenko stated. “It doesn’t stop.”