Six Meters Below the Earth, a Hidden Medical Facility Treats Ukraine's Troops Wounded by Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Sparse trees conceal the entrance. A descending timber tunnel descends to a well-illuminated reception area. Inside lies a surgery unit, outfitted with beds, heart rate sensors and breathing machines. And cabinets stocked of medical equipment, medications and organized stacks of extra garments. Within a break area with a washing machine and kettle, physicians keep an eye on a display. The screen reveals the flight patterns of enemy surveillance UAVs as they zigzag in the sky above.

Welcome to Ukraine’s covert underground hospital. This center began operations in the eighth month and is the second such installation, located in the eastern part of the country not far from the combat zone and the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. “Our facility sits 6 metres below the ground. It’s the safest way of delivering care to our injured military personnel. And it keeps medical personnel protected,” stated the clinic’s lead doctor, Major Oleksandr Holovashchenko.

This medical station handles 30-40 patients a each day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from catastrophic limb trauma necessitating surgical removal, or severe abdominal injuries. Others can walk. The vast majority are the casualties of enemy first-person view (FPV) aerial devices, which release grenades with deadly precision. “Ninety per cent of our patients are from first-person view drones. We encounter few gunshot wounds. This is an era of unmanned aircraft and a different kind of conflict,” the surgeon explained.

During one day last week, three military members walked with difficulty into the facility. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old one soldier, said an first-person view drone blast had ripped a small hole in his limb. “War is terrible. My comrade beside me, Vasyl, was killed,” he stated. “He fell down. Then the Russians released a second grenade on him.” He continued: “Everything in the village is destroyed. We see drones everywhere and casualties. Ours and theirs.”

The soldier explained his squad spent 43 days in a wooded zone close to Pokrovsk, which enemy forces has been trying to seize since last year. The only way to get to their position was by walking. All supplies came by drone: food and water. A week after he was hurt, he traveled five kilometers (roughly three miles), requiring three hours, to where an military transport was able to evacuate him. At the clinic, a medic assessed his vital signs. Following care, a medical attendant gave him fresh civilian clothes: a shirt and a pair of pale denim trousers.

Another patient, 38-year-old a serviceman, recounted a UAV explosion had resulted in concussion. “I was in a dugout. It suddenly became black. I couldn’t feel anything or hear anything,” he explained. “I believe I was lucky to survive. My cousin has been lost. There are ongoing detonations.” A builder employed in Lithuania, he said he had come back to his homeland and enlisted to serve shortly before Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

A third soldier, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been struck in the upper body. He groaned as medical staff placed him on a bed, removed a stained dressing and cleaned his recent shrapnel wound. Covered in a foil blanket, he used a mobile phone to ring his sister. “A fragment of mortar struck me. It was a deflected projectile. I’m OK,” he told her. What were his plans now? “To recover. This may require a few months. After that, to return to my military group. Someone must protect our nation,” he said.

Since 2022, Russia has consistently attacked medical centers, clinics, maternity wards and emergency vehicles. According to human rights groups, 261 medical personnel have been fatally attacked in nearly 2,000 attacks. The underground facility is built from multiple reinforced shelters, with timber beams, soil and granular material laid on top up to the surface. It is designed to resist direct hits from large-caliber projectiles and even multiple 8kg TNT charges dropped by drone.

A major steel and mining company, which financed the construction, plans to build 20 units in all. The head of the nation's national security council and former military leader, Rustem Umerov, said they would be “critically essential for preserving the survival of our armed forces and supporting troops on the frontline.” The organization referred to the project as the “largest-scale and challenging” it had undertaken after the enemy's military offensive.

Holovashchenko, explained certain wounded soldiers had to endure delays hours or even multiple days before they could be transported because of the danger of aerial attacks. “Our facility received a pair of critically ill patients who came at 3am. It was necessary to perform a removal of both limbs on a patient. The soldier's tourniquet had been applied for so long there was no other option.” What is his method with traumatic surgeries? “I’ve been medicine for two decades. One must focus,” he remarked.

Orderlies transported Mykolaichuk through the tunnel and into an emergency vehicle. The transport was stationed beneath a bush. The patient and the other military members were transferred to the city of Dnipro for further treatment. The subterranean medical team paused for rest. The hospital’s orange feline, the mascot, walked toward the entrance to greet the next arrivals. “Our facility operates open around the clock,” Holovashchenko stated. “It doesn’t stop.”