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🇦🇹 Austria /Conflict & Security

Bomb Terror in Kyiv in Broad Daylight: When the Air-Raid Alarm Sounds in the Classroom

From Die Presse · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • Kyiv families marked the start of the school year under the threat of Russian drone and missile attacks, with some residents spending the night in metro stations after explosions shook the capital.
  • At Lyceum No. 133, children began classes but would have to continue lessons in a basement shelter during air raids, a prospect parents and the school principal regard as inadequate.
  • Families fear repeated alarms will disrupt education as attacks on Kyiv intensify, while the city has built fewer underground schools than some front-line cities.

The first bell of the school year should have rung clearly at Kyiv’s Lyceum No. 133. Instead, families arrived after a night in which explosions woke many residents at around 2:30 a.m. Ballistic missiles struck the capital, while Russian combat drones circled overhead during the day.

I wish for peace. Our children should be able to learn quietly as they did before.

· OlenaThe mother of a first-grader described her hope as children began the school year under air-raid threats.

The children still came dressed for the occasion. Girls wore short skirts and white socks, boys wore suit trousers, and some pupils carried flowers for their teachers. Many wore vyshyvankas, the traditionally embroidered Ukrainian blouse. Parents filmed their children saying goodbye as teachers led them into the classrooms, hoping the air-raid alarm would not sound, at least on the first day.

If it did, the lessons would move to the basement. Parents are doubtful that this can provide normal schooling. “This is not real teaching,” said Olena, the mother of a first-grader. The school’s director, Lesia Moskalets, agreed. “When we go downstairs, concentration is gone,” she said. The children become tense, and messages between parents asking whether they are safe overshadow the lesson. “They take in no more of the material,” Moskalets said.

We slept well.

· ViktoriaThe mother of six-year-old Platon said the family spent the night in the metro.

For some families, the war has become part of childhood. Viktoria, the mother of six-year-old Platon, said they had “slept well” in the metro. Her son sees the situation as “an adventure game”, she said, after never leaving Ukraine since the war began. Olena’s daughter Solomiia, meanwhile, said she felt ready for school because “my baby teeth have already fallen out.”

For him, it is an adventure game.

· ViktoriaShe described how her son has adapted to living with the war.

Olena, 37, expressed the hope shared by many parents: “I wish for peace. Our children should be able to learn quietly as they did before.” Kyiv has not built underground schools on the scale seen in front-line cities such as Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, partly because attacks on the capital had previously occurred mostly at night. Parents now fear what the next weeks will bring.

When we go downstairs, concentration is gone.

· Lesia MoskaletsThe school director explained why lessons in the basement shelter cannot replicate normal classes.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Presse in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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