In Kryvyi Rih, the central Ukrainian city has shifted much of its education underground amid relentless attacks, with school bells now vying with air-raid sirens and students spending their days in fortified shelters built beneath classrooms.
When the siren sounds, lessons continue uninterrupted -- often because classes are already being held in the basement.
Children arrive with backpacks as they would anywhere else, but their "classroom" is a fortified space built for moments when safety can vanish in seconds.
"No, I would say it's really hard to live during a war. I'd like to sleep peacefully and not think that maybe a Shahed drone will fly in, or something else. I'd like to go for a calm walk, [and] go to cinemas," a girl told CGTN.
Teachers say their role now goes beyond teaching: it is to preserve a fragile sense of normality and help students remain calm -- even if only for a moment -- so they can still feel like children.
"When we hear the air-raid alert, everyone gathers and we would immediately, quickly move into the shelter. That applies in cases where children are in the sports hall or in a workshop. In other cases, children stay in the shelter from the first till the last classes, so they don't need to move anywhere. They always stay in the shelter," said Anna Kykot, vice director of the school.
Some schools have streamlined the process further by starting the day underground and staying there, class after class, to save critical seconds when an alert sounds.
City officials describe shelters as a core component of the education infrastructure -- not a contingency measure -- with new ones being added across schools and kindergartens.
"This is one example of what underground schools look like. We understand that our young people are an 'underground generation.' In Europe, 'underground' once referred to music from the 1970s and 1980s -- but here, it's today's youth, forced by Russia's constant shelling to study in underground schools. There are restrooms here, children can eat here, and there are high-quality classrooms where they can learn," said Sergii Miliutin, deputy to the mayor of Kryvyi Rih.
For the children studying in these shelters, the priorities are clear: staying safe and clinging to hope.
"I want the soldiers to stay alive and keep protecting Ukraine -- and for peace to finally come," said the girl.
Ukrainian schools go underground to protect students from air raids in ongoing war
Ukrainian schools go underground to protect students from air raids in ongoing war
