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Sparse foliage hide the entryway. One descending wooden passageway descends to a brightly lit reception area. There is a operating ward, outfitted with gurneys, cardiac monitors and ventilators. Plus cabinets stocked of medical equipment, drugs and neat piles of spare clothes. In a break area with a laundry appliance and kettle, physicians monitor a display. The screen reveals the movements of enemy spy drones as they zigzag in the air above.

Hospital staff at an subterranean hospital look at a monitor showing Russian kamikaze and surveillance drones in the region.

Welcome to the nation's secret underground hospital. This center opened in the eighth month and is the second of its kind, situated in eastern Ukraine not far from the frontline and the urban area of a key location in the Donetsk region. “We are six meters below the earth. It’s the safest method of delivering care to our wounded soldiers. And it keeps healthcare workers protected,” said the facility's surgeon, Major Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

This medical station handles 30-40 patients a each day. Their conditions vary. Certain individuals suffer from devastating limb trauma necessitating amputations, or severe stomach wounds. Others can walk. The vast majority are the casualties of enemy FPV aerial devices, which drop explosives with deadly accuracy. “90% of our cases are from FPVs. We see minimal gunshot wounds. This is an era of unmanned aircraft and a different kind of war,” the doctor explained.

Major the senior surgeon at the subterranean installation for caring for wounded soldiers in the eastern region.

On one afternoon last week, three military members limped into the hospital. The most lightly injured, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, reported an FPV blast had torn a small hole in his leg. “Conflict is horrific. My comrade next to me, Vasyl, was killed,” he stated. “He collapsed. Subsequently the enemy forces released a second explosive on him.” He continued: “All structures in the village is destroyed. There are UAVs everywhere and bodies. Our side's and the enemy's.”

Dvorskyi explained his squad spent over a month in a wooded zone near Pokrovsk, which Russia has been trying to seize for many months. The only way to reach their location was by walking. All supplies came by quadcopter: rations and drinking water. A week following he was hurt, he walked 5km (roughly three miles), taking several hours, to where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. Upon arrival, a medic checked his physical condition. Following care, a nurse gave him fresh civilian clothes: a shirt and a pair of pale jeans.

Artem Dvorskiy, twenty-eight, said a FPV drone caused a small hole in his leg.

Another patient, thirty-eight-year-old a serviceman, recounted a drone blast had resulted in concussion. “I was in a trench shelter. It suddenly went dark. I couldn’t feel any feeling or any sound,” he said. “I think I was lucky to survive. A relative has been killed. There are ongoing detonations.” A construction worker working in Lithuania, he noted he had come back to Ukraine and enlisted to fight shortly before the Russian leader's full-scale invasion in early 2022.

A third soldier, a serviceman, had been struck in the back. He expressed pain as doctors placed him on a bed, took off a stained dressing and treated his two-day-old injury from fragments. Covered in a thermal sheet, he used a mobile phone to call his family member. “A fragment of artillery hit me. The cause was a deflected projectile. I’m OK,” he informed her. What were his plans now? “To get better. This may require a several months. Subsequently, to return to my military group. Our forces must defend our nation,” he affirmed.

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

Since 2022, Russia has consistently targeted hospitals, clinics, maternity wards and emergency vehicles. Per human rights groups, over two hundred medical personnel have been fatally attacked in nearly two thousand assaults. This subterranean hospital is built from multiple reinforced shelters, with wooden supports, soil and granular material laid on top reaching the surface. It can withstand direct hits from large-caliber projectiles and even multiple 8kg explosive devices released by aerial means.

A major steel and mining company, which funded the building, plans to build 20 facilities 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 lives of our armed forces and assisting troops on the battlefront.” The company described the project as the “most ambitious and challenging” it had undertaken since Russia’s invasion.

An example of the centre’s operating theatres.

The surgeon, said certain wounded soldiers had to endure delays hours or even multiple days before they could be evacuated due to the threat of air assaults. “Our facility received a pair of critically ill casualties who arrived at 3am. It was necessary 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 alternative.” How did he cope with severe surgeries? “My career in medicine for 20 years. One must concentrate,” he said.

Orderlies transported the soldier through the passage and into an emergency vehicle. The vehicle was parked under a bush. He and the two other military members were transferred to the city of Dnipro for additional medical care. The subterranean hospital staff took a break. The hospital’s ginger cat, Vasilevs, walked toward the doorway to greet the incoming patients. “We are open 24 hours a day,” the surgeon stated. “The work is continuous.”