Ukraine’s eastern metropolis of Kharkiv will create the nation’s first completely underground school to protect children from Russia’s frequent bomb and missile attacks, the city’s mayor revealed. “Such a protection will let thousands of Kharkiv children to go on their secure face-to-face education even during missile threats,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov texted on the Telegram messaging app.
Whilst several schools in the front-line areas have been forced to teach online all through the scary phase of the war, Kharkiv organised about 60 separate classrooms throughout its metro stations before the school year started on Sept 1, organizing space for more than 1,000 children to study there. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-hugest city, had a population exceeding than 1.4 million before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Slices of the city lie less than 35km from the Russian border, and it has been subject to close by-daily Russian rocket and missile attacks that can make a major impact before residents can reach shelters.