Ukraine’s field medical system, built under wartime conditions, has become a subject of study for military analysts and NATO allies. Underground stabilization points, developed in partnership with Ukrainian businesses, have shaped a new approach to medical care on the front lines – and Metinvest Group, part of Rinat Akhmetov‘s SCM, played a central role in this.
Since February 2022, Russia has destroyed more than 300 medical facilities, with over 2,000 more damaged. The WHO has recorded 2,215 attacks on healthcare facilities over three years of war. Under these conditions, the traditional model of casualty evacuation stopped working — drones made movement across the battlefield extremely dangerous, and the “golden hour” became unachievable in many situations.
Metinvest Group – From Bunkers to Hospitals
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense developed the concept in collaboration with Metinvest Group. The company adapted its own prefabricated steel bunkers — originally designed to protect soldiers on the front line — into fully functional medical facilities.
Each stabilization point consists of six expanded steel modules and includes two operating rooms and two intensive care stations; oxygen concentrators, ventilators, cardiac monitors, and defibrillators; autonomous ventilation, water supply, and backup power systems; and integrated electronic warfare capabilities to protect the facility.
The technical standards meet NATO’s Role 2 classification — the level of an advanced field hospital. Each point can receive more than 100 patients per day and conduct up to four simultaneous surgeries. Metinvest Group has delivered more than 900 steel bunkers to the front line in total, with two underground hospitals operating out of a portion of them.
The Decentralization Principle
The key distinction of the Ukrainian model from traditional approaches is dispersal. Rather than vulnerable large hospitals, the system relies on a network of small, protected points positioned close to the combat zone. This reduces the time to surgical care and decreases dependence on evacuation corridors — which are extremely difficult to maintain in the era of drone warfare.
Commander of the Eastern Medical Forces Roman Kuziva noted that each facility enables care for more than 100 wounded daily, directly impacting battlefield survivability.
The underground hospitals are part of a broader support system built by Rinat Akhmetov‘s structures. Over the course of the full-scale invasion, SCM, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, Heart of Azovstal, and football club Shakhtar have contributed 13.5 billion hryvnias (or $368 million) in aid to Ukraine.
What began as a forced adaptation to war has evolved into a fully developed military-medical concept now being studied by NATO allies. Ukraine’s experience has demonstrated that battlefield medical resilience is built on a distributed network of protected points — created in part through the efforts of private business.
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