KHARKIV OBLAST, UKRAINE, May 1 — Lithuania plans to build an underground school in the Kharkiv Oblast by the end of this year as part of its assistance to Ukraine’s recovery, announced Artūras Žarnovskis, head of the Lithuanian program “Co-create Future of Ukraine.”

Underground schools will be built in the Mykolaiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions.

“In these regions, we are starting to build large school bomb shelters. And this means building from scratch in places where, unfortunately, there were no shelters before. Among other things, the safety conditions in these underground premises will include anti-radiation protection, just in case. I think we will be able to complete this construction this year,” Artūras Žarnovskis said.

Žarnovskis emphasized the importance of projects like that, e.g. for child socialization. According to him, due to the full-scale Russian invasion and previous COVID-19 restrictions, in some Ukrainian regions, “there are fourth-graders who have not been to school at all” and only had online classes.

The Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Andrii Stashkiv, reported that Russian aggression has destroyed more than 200 schools in the country and damaged 1,600. Every seventh school in Ukraine has been damaged, leading to a lack of access to education. About 900,000 children can’t attend school and are studying remotely.

On April 2, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov announced that the construction of the first underground school had been completed in the city. It has 20 classrooms and can accommodate 900 students studying in two shifts. The construction of another two underground schools in Liubotyn and Korotych of Kharkiv region is underway.

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  • On April 29, at about 6:00 p.m., the Russian army dropped two bombs in the Kyivskyi district of Kharkiv, hitting the ground near an animal shelter and a residential area. A 42-year-old man was injured due to the Russian shelling.