KYIV, Oct 21 — When the air raid alert sounded over the Kyiv region, children knew exactly what to do: they grabbed their tiny backpacks and ran towards the shelter, abandoning bikes, toys and even a doll on the school playground.
Teachers scooped up the stragglers and ushered them into the shelter’s entrance, while the cleaner scanned the playground, muttering as she checked that no one had been left behind.
“Everyone to the shelter, quickly, quickly, quickly!” said Valentyna Kurinna, director of the UMKA primary school in Kyiv’s suburbs.
This photograph shows a school damaged following a Russian ballistic missile attack in Kyiv on October 19, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. — AFP pic
