Dutch foundation plans to build underground hospital in Ukraine

A Dutch organisation is trying to raise funds to build a reinforced underground hospital in Ukraine so soldiers can be treated nearer the front line.

Protect Ukraine and a Norwegian foundation, HMM Healthcare, say they have already secured €750,000 in donations for the project, which is expected to cost €2.5 million in total.

The 600 m2 hospital will be built 8 m below ground and made entirely of concrete, allowing wounded service personnel to be treated in what is effectively a giant bunker.

The organisers hope to have the building fully equipped and operational by February 2027.

Jaap Scholten, a Dutch writer and co-founder of Protect Ukraine, said: “The fact that we have raised three-quarters of a million euros in such a short time shows that people in the Netherlands have not forgotten Ukraine.

“But we are not there yet. Every donation brings us closer to a hospital and stabilisation point that can save many lives.”

Protect Ukraine has around 100 volunteers who run regular trips to Ukraine to deliver goods such as medicines, pop-up tents and pick-up trucks.

Scholten, who lives in Hungary, told NOS he started the organisation after watching people in his neighbourhood handing out fresh fruit, energy bars and blankets to Ukrainian refugees.

“Arranging supplies for Ukrainians is the most effective thing you can do to help,” he said. “That’s why I started Protect Ukraine.”