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BOBRYK: Pupils were returning to schools in Ukraine on Monday for the start of the new academic year in the hope of being able to study safely under the shadow of Russia’s invasion.
Since the start of the war, in February 2022, schools have found different ways to keep lessons going for pupils.
In Bobryk, a village in northern Sumy region — not far from the front line — one school moved its classrooms entirely into a basement so students, whose education had already been impacted due to COVID lockdowns, could learn in person.
“We must do everything so this generation is not lost,” the principal Oleksii Korenivskyi said. “Time is the only thing you cannot make up. This is our future, and we must give it everything we have.”
The school was moved underground two years ago when air raid alerts sometimes stretched to 20 hours, paralyzing classes. The only option was to take cover and, while hiding from possible explosions, to keep studying.
Now, in a basement of an administrative building never meant to be a school, classrooms line the narrow space, some divided only by sheets of heavy plastic. There are no windows or doors. During lessons, the children’s voices blend together in a chorus.
On Monday, many arrived in embroidered traditional shirts, vyshyvanka. Teachers’ desks were loaded with fresh flowers that children brought for them as a traditional gift for the start of the year.
“Unfortunately, this ‘neighbor’ isn’t going anywhere,” said Oleksii, referring to Russia, when describing how much had to be done to make it happen and that it was worth it.
The once damp and dark basement was refurbished with ventilation, electricity and new flooring.
It is just one example of how Ukrainians are adapting to keep life moving with no end in sight to Russia’s grinding assault.
Bobryk, with a population of about 2,000, has a small school with classes of about 10 children each. This year, only seven sat in the first-grade room.
During the first lesson, the teacher opened a textbook to a map of Ukraine. It showed the country whole, without marks of occupied territories. She pointed north to the Sumy region, where Bobryk lies.
“Our region is next to Russia,” she said. “That’s why it’s so hard, why they bomb us so often — because we are close to this difficult neighbor.”
The school currently has just over 100 students, though about 10 percent have left since Russia’s full-scale invasion, and more continue to depart. For a school this small, each loss is felt.
Among those preparing to leave is Vlada Mykhailyk, 15, who will soon move to Austria with her 11-year-old brother. Their mother decided conditions have become too dangerous.
“We live well, but sometimes it’s sad. We often hear Shaheds (drones) and explosions,” Vlada said. Learning underground has become routine, she added. “If you have to choose between online or in the basement, the basement is better.”
She admits she is reluctant to leave the city and would rather finish school with her friends.
In one of the junior classrooms, war was not the first topic on the first day. When the teacher asked what students what they had done over the summer, the replies were refreshingly normal — bike rides, helping parents, time with new friends. Then, a small voice from the third grade, added: “A Shahed drone was intercepted above us and there were fragments.”
“All this is because of the war,” the teacher answered gently.
Because the basement is small, the school runs in two shifts, with shortened breaks. The original schoolhouse — a beautiful early 20th-century building — now sits empty, its spacious classrooms waiting for students to return when security situation improves.
Eva Tui, aged 7, was starting her third year in a classroom underground. She remembers her former classroom just 400 meters away, which was warmer in winter and cosier.
“We’re here because it’s wartime and there are a lot of sirens,” Eva said, adding that she had been awake the night before with excitement at the start of the new school year.
Eva said her wish for the year is simple: “To go back to the classroom. It feels more like home.”
Her bigger dream: “For the war to end.”

London: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg could be detained in a prison cell for terrorists if arrested trying to reach Gaza, Israel Hayom newspaper reported.

She is currently on the Global Sumud Flotilla that left Spain on Sunday for the Palestinian enclave.

The flotilla, which will be joined by other boats along the way, aims to break the siege of Gaza and raise awareness of developments as Israel steps up its military campaign.

However, Israel is expected to stop the flotilla before it reaches Gaza, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has drawn up plans to send the activists to the Ktzi’ot and Damon detention centers if arrested, Israel Hayom reported.

Ktzi’ot is Israel’s largest prison, located in the Negev desert. Damon is notorious for its poor treatment of female prisoners, especially Palestinians.

“Following several weeks at Ktzi’ot and Damon, they’ll be sorry about the time they arrived here. We must eliminate their appetite for another attempt,” sources close to Ben-Gvir told the newspaper.

Thunberg was arrested along with 11 other activists while taking part in the Madleen flotilla in June.

At the time, Thunberg said she and her fellow activists “were kidnapped in international waters …We were well aware of the risks of this mission. The aim was to get to Gaza and to be able to distribute the aid.”

She said before departing on Sunday that more than 26,000 people had signed up to be part of the efforts to break the siege of Gaza, where international observers have warned of widespread famine.

She told Iran’s Press TV that the Global Sumud Flotilla would “deliver humanitarian aid and break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and open up a people’s humanitarian corridor.”

Thunberg said: “This project is part of a global uprising of people standing up … When our governments fail to step up, the people will take their place … Their atrocities and their complicity in the genocide in Gaza right now … is not something that we can stand for.”

She told the UK’s Sky News: “It is not antisemitic to say that we shouldn’t be bombing people, that one shouldn’t be living in occupation, that everyone should have the right to live in freedom and dignity no matter who you are.

“For every politician that is fueling the genocide further, environmental and climate destruction, and further colonization and fascism, there will be people escalating the resistance against that.”