Roman Kuziv

Pre-invasion service (2016–2022)

Kuziv was commissioned with the rank of Junior Lieutenant in late 2016 and posted to a Territorial Recruitment Centre. After three months he was deployed for almost eighteen months with the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade in the Donbas, serving in Popasna, Lysychansk, Vrubivka, and Sievierodonetsk. He worked successively as ward doctor in the operating-and-dressing department, head of that department, acting commander of the medical company, and acting head of the brigade's medical service.^[2]

Following a period at the Mukachevo Military Hospital and a return to a Territorial Recruitment Centre, Kuziv petitioned the then-commander of the Medical Forces, Major General Ihor Khomenko, for a transfer back to a combat-zone posting. He was appointed deputy commander of the 66th Military Mobile Hospital in Donetsk Oblast.^[2]

Full-scale invasion

At the start of the full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, Kuziv was based at the 66th Mobile Military Hospital in Pokrovsk. As the senior officer present, he placed the unit on full combat readiness and dispersed elements of the hospital across multiple positions. Within the first 24 hours the hospital received approximately 300 wounded; some 22 operating tables were in simultaneous use during the most intense period.^[2]

Command of the Zaporizhzhia Military Hospital (2022–2026)

Under Kuziv's command, the Zaporizhzhia Military Hospital was placed on a wartime footing as part of the Defence Forces of Zaporizhzhia. He has overseen a roughly seven-fold expansion of staff and significant changes to the hospital's surgical capability, including the introduction of laparoscopic techniques in the management of combat wounds.^[2][11] Tens of thousands of operations have been carried out at the facility during his tenure.^[2]

In 2024 Kuziv was assigned the additional duties of acting commander of the Medical Forces Group "East", responsible for organising medical services along the eastern and southern sectors of the front.^[3][4]

Underground hospital initiative

Kuziv initiated and helped design Ukraine's first underground front-line surgical hospital, sometimes referred to by Ukrainian medics as the Andergraund or shpital.^{[4][3][5][6][12]} After a stabilisation point in his sector was struck a reported 16 times, he proposed adapting Metinvest's steel "hideout" bunker modules — then already in production as front-line shelters — into a buried "role 2" surgical facility, and worked with Metinvest engineers on its design and configuration.^[2][4]

The first such facility, financed by Metinvest under Rinat Akhmetov's "Steel Front" initiative, opened in September 2024 in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast. It is approximately 500 square metres in area, located around six metres below ground, and equipped with a triage reception, operating theatres, an intensive-care unit, a laboratory and autonomous life-support systems. The structure was tested against anti-tank mines and aerial munitions before commissioning.^{[4][5][6][12]} A second underground stabilisation point opened in Donetsk Oblast in 2025 with a revised configuration.^[13]

According to figures cited by Metinvest, more than 6,000 wounded Ukrainian servicemembers had been treated at the first underground hospital within its first year of operation.^[13] Kuziv has stated that he sees a need for at least twelve such facilities along the front line, and the Ministry of Defence subsequently approved a further 20 underground "role 2" hospitals.^[12][3] The model has been described in international coverage, including in The Economist and the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, as the first deployment of an advanced underground surgical unit of its kind.^[3][12]

Command of the Eastern Region Military Medical Clinical Centre (2026–)

In 2026 Kuziv was appointed to head the Military Medical Clinical Centre of the Eastern Region (VMKTs SR), based in Dnipro and registered as Military Unit А4615.^[1] The centre, established in 2019, is a multi-profile clinical institution of the Medical Forces of Ukraine's Armed Forces, with origins as a military hospital in the city dating to the early 20th century.^[14]