A Full Meters Below the Earth, a Secret Medical Facility Cares for Ukrainian Troops Wounded by Russian Drones

Scrubby foliage conceal the entryway. One sloping wooden tunnel descends to a brightly lit reception area. Inside lies a operating ward, outfitted with beds, cardiac monitors and ventilators. And shelves full of healthcare supplies, drugs and organized stacks of extra garments. Within a staff room with a laundry appliance and kettle, physicians keep an eye on a screen. The screen reveals the flight patterns of Russian surveillance UAVs as they zigzag in the air above.

Welcome to the nation's secret underground medical facility. The facility opened in August and is the second such installation, located in the eastern part of the country not far from the frontline and the urban area of a key location in Donetsk oblast. “Our facility sits 6 metres below the earth. It’s the safest way of delivering care to our injured soldiers. And it keeps medical personnel protected,” stated the facility's lead doctor, Maj the chief surgeon.

The stabilisation point handles 30-40 patients a day. Cases differ widely. Certain individuals suffer from devastating limb trauma requiring amputations, or serious stomach wounds. Others can walk. Almost all are the victims of Russian first-person view (FPV) aerial devices, which drop explosives with deadly accuracy. “Ninety per cent of our patients are from FPVs. We encounter minimal gunshot wounds. It’s an age of drones and a different kind of war,” the surgeon said.

During one day last week, a group of three military members limped into the hospital. The least severely hurt, 28-year-old one soldier, reported an first-person view drone explosion had ripped a small hole in his leg. “War is terrible. My comrade beside me, Vasyl, was fatally wounded,” he said. “He fell down. Then the enemy forces dropped a second explosive on him.” He added: “Everything in the settlement is destroyed. We see drones everywhere and casualties. Our side's and theirs.”

The soldier explained his squad spent 43 days in a forest area close to Pokrovsk, which enemy forces has been trying to seize since last year. The only way to get to their location was by walking. All supplies arrived by drone: rations and drinking water. A week following he was hurt, he walked five kilometers (about 3 miles), taking three hours, to a point where an armoured vehicle was able to pick him up. At the clinic, a medical staff assessed his physical condition. After treatment, a medical attendant gave him fresh civilian clothes: a shirt and a set of light-colored jeans.

A different casualty, 38-year-old a serviceman, said a UAV explosion had left him with a head injury. “My position was in a trench shelter. Suddenly it became black. I couldn’t feel anything or hear anything,” he said. “I think I was lucky to remain alive. My cousin has been killed. We face ongoing detonations.” A construction worker working in Lithuania, Filipchuk said he had returned to his homeland and enlisted to fight shortly before the Russian leader's large-scale attack in February 2022.

Another military member, Taras Mykolaichuk, had been struck in the back. He groaned as doctors placed him on a bed, took off a stained bandage and cleaned his two-day-old injury from fragments. Wrapped in a foil blanket, he used a cellphone to call his sister. “A piece of mortar hit me. The cause was a ricochet. I’m OK,” he informed her. What were his plans now? “To get better. That will take a several months. After that, to go back to my unit. Someone must defend our nation,” he said.

Since 2022, Russia has repeatedly attacked medical centers, health facilities, obstetric units and emergency vehicles. Per human rights groups, 261 health workers have been fatally attacked in nearly two thousand assaults. The underground facility is built from four reinforced shelters, with wooden supports, soil and sand placed above reaching ground level. It is designed to resist direct hits from large-caliber projectiles and even multiple 8kg explosive devices dropped by drone.

The Ukrainian industrial group, which funded the building, plans to erect 20 facilities in all. The head of Ukraine’s national security council and ex- military leader, the official, said they would be “critically essential for saving the survival of our military and assisting troops on the frontline.” The organization described the project as the “largest-scale and challenging” it had implemented after Russia’s invasion.

Holovashchenko, said some wounded personnel had to wait hours or even multiple days before they could be evacuated due to the threat of aerial attacks. “Our facility received two critically ill casualties who arrived at 3am. It was necessary to perform a removal of both limbs on a patient. His bleeding control device had been on for such an extended period there was no other option.” How did he cope with traumatic operations? “My career in healthcare for two decades. One must concentrate,” he remarked.

Orderlies wheeled Mykolaichuk up the tunnel and into an emergency vehicle. The transport was parked under a shrub. He and the two other soldiers were transferred to the city of Dnipro for additional medical care. The underground hospital staff paused for rest. The hospital’s orange feline, the mascot, padded up to the entrance to await the next arrivals. “Our facility operates active around the clock,” the surgeon stated. “The work is continuous.”