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Sparse trees conceal the entrance. One descending wooden tunnel descends to a well-illuminated welcome zone. Inside lies a operating ward, equipped with gurneys, heart rate sensors and breathing machines. And cabinets full of healthcare supplies, medications and neat piles of spare clothes. Within a staff room with a washing machine and kettle, doctors keep an eye on a screen. The screen reveals the flight patterns of enemy surveillance UAVs as they weave in the air above.

Medical staff at an subterranean hospital observe a screen showing Russian suicide and reconnaissance drones in the region.

This is Ukraine’s secret underground medical facility. This center began operations in the eighth month and is the second of its kind, situated in the eastern part of the country not far from the combat zone and the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk oblast. “We are 6 metres below the earth. It’s the safest method of delivering care to our injured military personnel. And it keeps healthcare workers safe,” said the facility's lead doctor, Major Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

This medical station handles 30-40 patients a day. Their conditions vary. Some have devastating limb trauma necessitating amputations, or severe abdominal injuries. Some patients can walk. Almost all are the casualties of enemy FPV drones, which release grenades with deadly precision. “90% of our cases are from first-person view drones. We encounter minimal gunshot wounds. This is an age of drones and a new type of war,” the doctor said.

Major the senior surgeon at the subterranean facility for caring for injured soldiers in the eastern region.

On one afternoon recently, a group of three soldiers limped into the facility. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, said an first-person view drone blast had torn a small hole in his leg. “Conflict is horrific. The guy beside me, Vasyl, was fatally wounded,” he stated. “He collapsed. Then the Russians dropped a second explosive on him.” He added: “Everything in the settlement is demolished. There are drones all around and bodies. Ours and the enemy's.”

Dvorskyi explained his squad spent over a month in a forest area near the city, which Russia has been trying to seize since last year. Sole access to get to their location was by walking. All supplies arrived by drone: food and drinking water. A week following he was hurt, he walked 5km (about 3 miles), taking three hours, to where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. At the clinic, a medic checked his vital signs. Following care, a medical attendant gave him fresh non-military attire: a shirt and a pair of light-colored denim trousers.

The soldier, 28, stated a first-person view drone caused a small hole in his lower limb.

Another patient, thirty-eight-year-old a serviceman, recounted a drone blast had resulted in a head injury. “My position was in a dugout. Suddenly it became black. I couldn’t feel anything or hear anything,” he explained. “I think I was fortunate to remain alive. A relative has been killed. There are ongoing explosions.” A builder working in a neighboring country, he noted he had come back 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 expressed pain as doctors placed him on a bed, removed a bloody dressing and treated his recent shrapnel wound. Wrapped in a foil blanket, he used a mobile phone to call his family member. “A piece of mortar hit me. The cause was a ricochet. I’m OK,” he informed her. What comes next for him? “To get better. That will take a several months. After that, to go back to my unit. Our forces must protect our nation,” he affirmed.

Doctors treat Taras Mykolaichuk, who was injured in the back by a fragment of mortar.

Since 2022, Russia has consistently attacked hospitals, health facilities, obstetric units and emergency vehicles. According to human rights groups, 261 health workers have been killed in nearly two thousand attacks. The underground facility is built from four reinforced shelters, with wooden supports, earth and sand placed above reaching the surface. It can withstand impacts from 152mm projectiles and even multiple 8kg TNT charges dropped by drone.

A major steel and mining company, which financed the construction, plans to build 20 facilities in all. A senior official of the nation's national security council and ex- defence minister, Rustem Umerov, declared they would be “vitally essential for preserving the survival of our military and assisting troops on the frontline.” The organization described the project as the “most ambitious and challenging” it had implemented after the enemy's invasion.

One of the centre’s operating theatres.

The surgeon, said certain injured personnel had to wait hours or even multiple days before they could be evacuated because of the threat of air assaults. “We had two severely injured patients who came at the early hours. It was necessary to carry out a removal of both limbs on one of them. The soldier's bleeding control device had been applied for so long there was no other option.” How did he cope with traumatic operations? “I’ve been healthcare for 20 years. You have to concentrate,” he remarked.

Orderlies transported Mykolaichuk through the tunnel and into an emergency vehicle. The transport was stationed under a shrub. The patient and the two other soldiers were taken to the city of a major city for additional medical care. The subterranean hospital staff took a break. The hospital’s ginger cat, the mascot, padded up to the doorway to greet the next arrivals. “Our facility operates active around the clock,” the surgeon said. “It doesn’t stop.”