Two small hands. A small blue note and a glue stick. Mila (5) sits in a classroom with other peers. The pieces of paper she cuts out will become a tree. Every Saturday she goes to preschool. But there are no windows in the classroom. Or yes, it is, but they only face a long corridor. Mila’s preschool is underground. At a subway station. METRO: Far below the ground, the authorities in Kharkiv have furnished classrooms. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news Mila lives in Kharkiv. Ukraine’s second largest city, but also one of the cities most frequently attacked. From here it is only between 3-4 miles to the Russian border. Rockets can reach the city in 30-40 seconds, according to the Ukrainian defense. PLAY: The preschool has become a haven where children in Kharkiv can play and learn in safety. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news The day after the full-scale invasion almost two years ago, all kindergartens and schools in Kharkiv closed. It was not possible to continue when children and staff had to run into the bomb bay every time the flight alarm went off. And it still runs often. PRESCHOOL: Parents wait in the subway station for their children to finish preschool Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news In Kharkiv county, sirens warn of a possible attack an average of five times a day, statistics show. But underground, children can play, sing and paste without being interrupted. They are safe here. Building underground schools The war in Ukraine rages on. There is no solution in sight. In Kharkiv, the authorities have had to take action. Digital teaching is good, but cannot replace learning and the community in physical classrooms. UNDERGROUND: Last fall, the construction of underground schools began in Kharkiv. Photo: VYACHESLAV MADIYEVSKYY / Reuters From this school year, several students have been taught in makeshift classrooms at three different underground stations in the city. But this is not enough. Now three underground schools are under construction. SOLID: The underground school is starting to take shape. There will be room for 320 pupils here. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news When news visited one of the construction sites last week, the site manager could tell that the school is solid. It must withstand being hit by an S-300 missile. – With the neighbor we have, we cannot do anything else, he said in perfect Russian. Broken neighborhood Kharkiv has always had close ties to Russia. Russian has been the mother tongue of people and many have relatives in the neighboring country. A few years ago, you could get into your car and drive across the border without any problems. Belgorod, which is the largest city on the Russian side, is only an hour and a half away. BOMBED TO PIECES: The district of Saltivka is located in the far north of Kharkiv. Several blocks of flats have been completely destroyed in Russian attacks. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news Many Russians used to travel to Kharkiv to go to the huge Barabashovo market. One of the world’s largest with thousands of small stalls and shops. Here you could shop cheaply. Now the market has been bombed to pieces and all the border crossings are closed. Rocket hits the street If you drive around Kharkiv, you can see the war everywhere. Destroyed houses. Windows have been replaced by veneer sheets. The Russian attacks destroy and take lives. Last autumn I also got to know how scary this city is. TOWN HALL: The windows of the town hall in Kharkiv were blown out during an attack on 1 March 2022. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news Photographer Gunnar Bratthammer, our Ukrainian assistant and I had entered Kharkiv in the evening. We checked into the hotel and agreed to meet for breakfast. But early the next morning I woke up to something completely different from the alarm clock. Out of nowhere came a screeching sound. Then a second of silence before a big explosion. The windows shook. A rocket had hit a building 150–200 meters down the street. I got into the bathroom and sat under the sink. Away from the big windows. No more rockets came. ATTACK: Rescue workers in Kharkiv search through the rubble after a rocket hit on October 6, 2023. A 10-year-old boy and his grandmother were killed. Photo: STRINGER / Reuters After an hour, we ventured out into the streets. It crunched underfoot. Virtually all the windows at the intersection had been blown out. Fire engines, ambulances and rescue workers were in place. Smoke rose from a three-story building. The roof had been torn away. A 10-year-old boy had had his room here. The night before he had gone to bed in his spiderman pyjamas. Now he had been killed along with his grandmother. AIRCRAFT ALARM: In Kharkiv, the aircraft alarm goes off several times a day. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news I have met people in Ukraine who say they are from Kharkiv. But that they no longer dare to live in the city because of repeated attacks. But the city, which had over 1.4 million inhabitants before the war, is still full of people. People who try to make their everyday lives fit together somehow. Between aircraft alarms, attacks and power outages. The opera moves down to the basement – Welcome to us. I will follow you down. The man we meet is standing outside the Kharkiv Opera House. The monumental building took over 25 years to build and was completed in 1991. The facade is clad in volcanic stone from Armenia. It has been a long time since the hall with 1,500 seats welcomed the public. OPERA BUILDING: The Kharkiv Opera and Ballet Theater is located in the center of the city. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news When the war came to Kharkiv, most of the musicians, ballet dancers and opera singers traveled to Lithuania. Here they have toured around Europe to raise income. Those who are left in Kharkiv. has performed in car parks and for soldiers at the front. But now they want to invite people back to the opera house. We are led through long dark and cold corridors. It costs a fortune to heat Ukraine’s largest opera house. OPERA HOUSE: The war has put an end to performances in the great hall. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news On our way down the floors, we hear tones. Deep underground, lies what will in future be the opera’s new stage. In the basement, around 20 musicians are rehearsing. BASEMENT: The opera house’s new stage has moved down into the basement. Here, the orchestra can play concerts without being interrupted by aircraft alarms. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news But it is not long before the conductor interrupts. The ventilation system hisses and whines. It is far from ideal. The conductor is annoyed. Can someone get turned off the plant? It turns out to be difficult. The exercise continues. WANT TO PLAY: Violinists Natalia Babaruk and Vera Litovstjenko are looking forward to holding concerts in the opera house again, even if it is in the basement. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news Giving people musical experiences is more important than ever, say violinists Vera Litovstjenko and Natalia Babaruk. – We give people the opportunity to feel that life goes on, that we continue to live and that we continue to fight, no matter what happens, says Natalia Babaruk. – Music brings out emotions in us. We can feel emotions that the war displaces. Joy and hope. We can feel that we are human again, says Litovstjenko – But it is war. Back in the classroom at the underground station. Five-year-old Mila continues to cut and paste. UNDERGROUND: Mila (5) doesn’t think it’s strange that the preschool is located in an underground station. Photo: Frode Fjerdingstad / news – Do you like it here, I ask? – Yes, I like to play and draw. – But it’s underground? – Yes, but I’m used to that. I’ve been here three times. – But isn’t it still a bit strange? I ask again. Mila puts down the glue stick and looks at me. Stretches both hands up in the air and says a little disappointed. – But it is war. That’s the way it has to be.
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In Kharkiv, classrooms and the opera have been moved underground to avoid bombing – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
