Ukraine Building Underground Classrooms To Protect Children From Air Strikes

The city of Kharkiv, known as the “student capital” of Ukraine, is facing a critical challenge — how to educate its youngest citizens while under the constant threat of air strikes from Russia.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the threat of Russian missiles reaching the city in under a minute necessitated a drastic rethinking of school infrastructure. Traditional classrooms, with their large windows and vulnerable locations, are now ill-suited for Ukraine's new reality.

Instead, the city — which has areas less than 20 miles off Russia’s borders — has resorted to transforming its underground metro stations into safe spaces for learning, completing 60 schoolrooms ahead of the new school year in September which will provide room for over 1,000 children to return to in-person education.

It’s a novel solution to say the least. In a way, Kharkiv’s underground classrooms signify more than just a pragmatic solution to a problem; they symbolize Ukraine’s unwillingness to let war dictate the parameters of everyday life, and highlight its commitment to the future.

Iryna Loboda, a mother to a student told Reuters, “The children will be able to socialize with each other, find a common language, communicate. I absolutely support this.”

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The Other Front, Drone Warfare: As Ukraine fights for its sovereignty, it has also developed new strategies in military technology.

Kyiv launched its largest drone attack on military targets across Russia, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday. While the Ukrainian military may lack the long-range missiles that Russia possesses, it has developed an increasingly efficient force of domestically engineered drones.

Ukraine's drones have proven to be a strategic asset, allowing the country to disable more Russian planes at their home bases in Russia than in combat, according to military analysts the Journal spoke with.

The contrast here is glaring. While Ukrainian drones strike deep inside Russia and disrup military bases and cause fires, underground in Kharkiv, teachers will likely discuss history and mathematics.

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