A Full Meters Below the Earth, a Hidden Medical Facility Cares for Ukrainian Soldiers Injured by Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Scrubby foliage hide the entrance. One sloping timber passageway leads down to a brightly lit reception area. There is a operating ward, outfitted with gurneys, heart rate sensors and breathing machines. And shelves full of healthcare supplies, medications and organized stacks of spare clothes. In a break area with a laundry appliance and hot water heater, physicians keep an eye on a display. The screen reveals the movements of enemy surveillance UAVs as they weave in the sky above.

Welcome to the nation's secret underground hospital. The facility began operations in the eighth month and is the second of its kind, located in the eastern part of the country close to the combat zone and the urban area of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. “Our facility sits six meters under the ground. It’s the most secure way of delivering care to our injured soldiers. It also ensures healthcare workers protected,” said the clinic’s lead doctor, Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

This medical station treats 30-40 patients a day. Cases differ widely. Some have devastating limb trauma requiring surgical removal, or serious stomach wounds. Some patients can walk. Almost all are the casualties of Russian FPV aerial devices, which release grenades with deadly precision. “90% of our patients are from first-person view drones. We see minimal gunshot wounds. It’s an era of drones and a different kind of war,” the surgeon explained.

On one afternoon last week, a group of three military members limped into the facility. The most lightly injured, 28-year-old Artem Dvorskyi, reported an first-person view drone explosion had ripped a small hole in his limb. “War is terrible. The guy next to me, a fellow soldier, was killed,” he stated. “He collapsed. Subsequently the Russians released a another explosive on him.” He continued: “All structures in the village is destroyed. We see UAVs everywhere and bodies. Our side's and the enemy's.”

Dvorskyi explained his unit endured 43 days in a wooded zone close to the city, which Russia has been trying to seize for many months. Sole access to reach their location was by walking. Necessary provisions came by drone: food and drinking water. A week after he was hurt, he walked 5km (about 3 miles), requiring several hours, to a point where an armoured vehicle was able to pick him up. Upon arrival, a medic checked his vital signs. Following care, a medical attendant gave him fresh civilian clothes: a T-shirt and a pair of light-colored denim trousers.

Another patient, 38-year-old Pavlo Filipchuk, said a UAV explosion had left him with concussion. “I was in a trench shelter. Suddenly it became black. I lost sensation anything or hear anything,” he said. “I believe I was fortunate to remain alive. A relative has been lost. There are continuous detonations.” A builder employed in Lithuania, Filipchuk noted he had returned to his homeland and volunteered to fight days before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in early 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been hit in the upper body. He expressed pain as doctors placed him on a medical cot, removed a bloody bandage and treated his two-day-old shrapnel wound. Wrapped in a thermal sheet, he borrowed a cellphone to call his family member. “A piece of artillery struck me. The cause was a deflected projectile. My condition is stable,” he informed her. What comes next for him? “To recover. This may require a few months. After that, to go back to my unit. Our forces must protect our nation,” he affirmed.

Since 2022, Russia has repeatedly targeted medical centers, clinics, maternity wards and ambulances. Per human rights groups, 261 health workers have been fatally attacked in almost 2,000 attacks. This subterranean hospital is constructed from multiple reinforced shelters, with wooden supports, earth and sand laid on top reaching the surface. It can withstand impacts from large-caliber artillery shells and even three eight-kilogram explosive devices dropped by drone.

The Ukrainian steel and mining company, which funded the construction, plans to build twenty units in all. The head of the nation's security agency and former military leader, the official, declared they would be “critically important for preserving the lives of our armed forces and supporting troops on the frontline.” The company referred to the project as the “largest-scale and demanding” it had undertaken after the enemy's invasion.

Holovashchenko, explained certain injured soldiers had to wait many hours or even days before they could be evacuated due to the threat of air assaults. “Our facility received two critically ill patients who came at the early hours. I had to carry out a double amputation on one of them. The soldier's tourniquet had been applied for so long there was no alternative.” How did he cope with severe operations? “I’ve been medicine for two decades. You have to concentrate,” he said.

Orderlies wheeled the soldier through the passage and into an ambulance. The vehicle was parked beneath a bush. The patient and the two other soldiers were taken to the city of a major city for further treatment. The subterranean medical team paused for rest. The hospital’s ginger cat, Vasilevs, walked up to the doorway to await the incoming patients. “Our facility operates active around the clock,” Holovashchenko stated. “It doesn’t stop.”