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Sparse trees conceal the entrance. A sloping wooden tunnel descends to a brightly lit reception area. Inside lies a surgery unit, equipped with gurneys, heart rate sensors and ventilators. Plus shelves full of healthcare supplies, drugs and organized stacks of spare clothes. Within a break area with a laundry appliance and hot water heater, doctors monitor a screen. The screen reveals the flight patterns of Russian surveillance UAVs as they weave in the air above.

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

This is Ukraine’s secret underground medical facility. This center began operations in the eighth month and is the second of its kind, located in eastern Ukraine close to the combat zone and the urban area of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. “We are 6 metres under the earth. This is the most secure method of providing help to our wounded military personnel. It also ensures medical personnel protected,” said the facility's surgeon, Maj the chief surgeon.

The stabilisation point treats 30-40 casualties a each day. Their conditions vary. Certain individuals suffer from catastrophic leg injuries necessitating amputations, or serious stomach wounds. Others can walk. The vast majority are the victims of enemy FPV drones, which drop grenades with deadly accuracy. “Ninety per cent of our patients are from FPVs. We see minimal gunshot wounds. This is an age of drones and a different kind of conflict,” the doctor explained.

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

During one afternoon last week, a group of three soldiers limped into the hospital. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, said an FPV blast had torn a minor wound in his leg. “Conflict is terrible. My comrade beside me, Vasyl, was killed,” he said. “He collapsed. Subsequently the Russians dropped a another explosive on him.” He continued: “All structures in the settlement is demolished. We see UAVs all around and casualties. Our side's and theirs.”

The soldier explained his squad spent over a month in a forest area near the city, which Russia has been attempting to capture for many months. Sole access to get to their position was on foot. All supplies came by drone: food and water. A week following he was injured, he walked five kilometers (about 3 miles), requiring three hours, to where an armoured vehicle was able to pick him up. Upon arrival, a medic assessed his physical condition. Following care, a medical attendant gave him new civilian clothes: a shirt and a set of pale denim trousers.

The soldier, 28, stated a first-person view drone ripped a minor injury in his lower limb.

Another patient, thirty-eight-year-old a serviceman, said a drone blast had resulted in a head injury. “I was in a trench shelter. Suddenly it became black. I couldn’t feel any feeling or any sound,” he explained. “I believe I was lucky to survive. My cousin has been lost. We face continuous explosions.” A construction worker working in a neighboring country, Filipchuk noted he had returned to Ukraine and enlisted to fight days before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in February 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been struck in the upper body. He groaned as medical staff laid him on a medical cot, removed a bloody bandage and cleaned his recent injury from fragments. Covered in a foil blanket, he borrowed a cellphone to call his family member. “A fragment of artillery hit me. It was a ricochet. My condition is stable,” he informed her. What were his plans now? “To recover. This may require a few months. Subsequently, to go back to my unit. Our forces must protect our nation,” he affirmed.

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

Over the past years, Russia has consistently targeted medical centers, clinics, obstetric units and emergency vehicles. According to international monitors, over two hundred health workers have been killed in almost two thousand assaults. This subterranean hospital is built from multiple reinforced shelters, with wooden supports, earth and granular material laid on top up to ground level. It is designed to resist impacts from 152mm artillery shells and even three eight-kilogram explosive devices released by drone.

The Ukrainian steel and mining company, which funded the building, intends to erect twenty units in all. The head of the nation's security agency and former defence minister, the official, said they would be “vitally important for preserving the lives of our military and assisting troops on the frontline.” The company referred to the project as the “largest-scale and challenging” it had implemented since Russia’s invasion.

An example of the centre’s surgical rooms.

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 two critically ill casualties who came at the early hours. It was necessary to carry out a double amputation on a patient. His tourniquet had been on for such an extended period there was no other option.” How did he cope with severe surgeries? “I’ve been medicine for two decades. One must focus,” he said.

Orderlies transported Mykolaichuk through the tunnel and into an emergency vehicle. The vehicle was stationed under a shrub. The patient and the other military members were taken to the urban center of a major city for further treatment. The subterranean hospital staff paused for rest. The facility's ginger cat, the mascot, walked toward the doorway to greet the next arrivals. “Our facility operates open around the clock,” the surgeon stated. “It doesn’t stop.”