Doctors at the secret facility are able to perform amputations while others monitor zigzagging drones overhead
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crubby trees hide the entrance. A sloping wooden tunnel descends to a brightly lit reception area. There is a surgery unit, equipped with beds, cardiac monitors and ventilators. And shelves full of medical equipment, drugs and neat piles of spare clothes. In a staff room with a washing machine and kettle, doctors keep an eye on a screen. It shows the movements of Russian spy drones as they zigzag in the sky above.
Welcome to Ukraine’s secret underground hospital. The facility opened in August and is the second of its kind, located in eastern Ukraine not far from the frontline and the city of Pokrovsk, in Donetsk oblast. “We are 6 metres below the earth. It’s the safest way of providing help to our injured soldiers. And it keeps medical personnel safe,” said the clinic’s surgeon, Maj Oleksandr Holovashchenko.
The stabilisation point treats 30-40 patients a day. Their conditions vary. Some have catastrophic leg injuries requiring amputations, or serious stomach wounds. Others can walk. Almost all are the victims of Russian first-person view (FPV) drones, which drop grenades with lethal accuracy. “Ninety per cent of our cases are from FPVs. We see few bullet injuries. It’s an age of drones and a different kind of war,” the surgeon said.
