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Sparse trees hide the entrance. One sloping wooden tunnel descends to a well-illuminated welcome zone. Inside lies a operating ward, equipped with gurneys, cardiac monitors and breathing machines. Plus cabinets full of medical equipment, drugs and neat piles of spare clothes. In a staff room with a washing machine and hot water heater, doctors monitor a screen. It shows the movements of enemy surveillance UAVs as they zigzag in the air above.

Hospital staff at an subterranean medical center look at a monitor displaying enemy suicide and reconnaissance UAVs in the region.

This is the nation'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 close to the combat zone and the urban area of a key location in Donetsk oblast. “Our facility sits six meters below the ground. It’s the safest method of delivering care to our wounded soldiers. It also ensures healthcare workers protected,” stated the clinic’s lead doctor, Maj the chief surgeon.

The stabilisation point treats 30-40 patients a each day. Their conditions vary. Certain individuals suffer from devastating leg injuries requiring surgical removal, or serious abdominal injuries. Some patients can move on their own. The vast majority are the victims of enemy first-person view (FPV) aerial devices, which release grenades with deadly precision. “90% of our patients are from FPVs. We see minimal bullet injuries. It’s an age of unmanned aircraft and a different kind of war,” the surgeon said.

Maj the senior surgeon at the underground installation for treating injured soldiers in the eastern region.

During one day recently, three military members walked with difficulty into the facility. The most lightly injured, twenty-eight-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, said an first-person view drone explosion had torn a small hole in his limb. “Conflict is horrific. My comrade beside me, a fellow soldier, was killed,” he stated. “He fell down. Subsequently the enemy forces released a second grenade on him.” He added: “All structures in the settlement is destroyed. There are UAVs all around 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 attempting to capture since last year. Sole access to reach their position was on foot. All supplies came by quadcopter: rations and water. A week after he was hurt, he traveled five kilometers (about 3 miles), requiring three hours, to where an armoured vehicle was able to evacuate him. Upon arrival, a medical staff checked his physical condition. After treatment, a nurse gave him new civilian clothes: a shirt and a set of pale jeans.

Artem Dvorskiy, 28, said a first-person view drone caused a minor injury in his lower limb.

A different casualty, 38-year-old a serviceman, recounted a drone blast had resulted in a head injury. “My position was in a dugout. It suddenly became black. I couldn’t feel anything or any sound,” he explained. “I think I was lucky to survive. My cousin has been lost. There are continuous detonations.” A construction worker employed in a neighboring country, Filipchuk noted he had returned to his homeland and volunteered to serve shortly before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in early 2022.

Another military member, a serviceman, had been struck in the back. He groaned as medical staff placed him on a bed, took off a bloody bandage and treated his recent shrapnel wound. Covered in a thermal sheet, he used a mobile phone to call his family member. “A piece of mortar struck me. It was a deflected projectile. I’m OK,” he told her. What were his plans now? “To get better. This may require a few months. Subsequently, to go back to my military group. Someone must protect our country,” he said.

Medical staff treat the wounded soldier, who was injured in the dorsal area by a piece of mortar.

Since 2022, enemy forces has consistently attacked medical centers, health facilities, obstetric units and ambulances. According to human rights groups, 261 medical personnel have been killed in almost 2,000 attacks. The underground facility is constructed from multiple steel bunkers, with wooden supports, earth and granular material laid on top up to ground level. It is designed to resist direct hits from large-caliber projectiles and even three 8kg TNT charges dropped by aerial means.

A major steel and mining company, which funded the construction, plans to build twenty facilities in total. The head of the nation's national security council and ex- military leader, the official, said they would be “vitally important for preserving the survival of our armed forces and supporting defenders on the battlefront.” The organization described the initiative as the “most ambitious and challenging” it had undertaken after the enemy's invasion.

An example of the facility's operating theatres.

The surgeon, explained some injured soldiers had to endure delays hours or even multiple days before they could be transported due to the threat of aerial attacks. “We had two severely injured patients who arrived at 3am. It was necessary to perform a removal of both limbs on one of them. His bleeding control device had been applied for such an extended period there was no alternative.” What is his method with traumatic surgeries? “I’ve been healthcare for 20 years. You have to concentrate,” he remarked.

Orderlies wheeled Mykolaichuk through the tunnel and into an emergency vehicle. The transport was parked beneath a bush. He and the other soldiers were taken to the urban center of a major city for additional medical care. The underground medical team took a break. The facility's ginger cat, the mascot, walked toward the doorway to greet the next arrivals. “We are active around the clock,” the surgeon said. “It doesn’t stop.”