Amid the wreckage of war in Ukraine, one pattern stands out: schools, struck again and again, in what Ukraine says is a systematic targeting of the country's children.
Using satellite images, maps, photos and Ukrainian data, a Scripps News visual investigation found that since February 2022, nearly 4,000 of Ukraine's 13,000 educational institutions have been damaged by Russian bombs and shells. The Ministry of Education says nearly 400 have been completely destroyed.
The toll spans the entire system, from kindergartens and vocational schools to colleges and universities. More than 1,400 kindergartens, around 1,900 schools, and over 500 other facilities were damaged or destroyed.
The data shows no region has suffered more damage to its schools than Kharkiv. Since the war began, more than 800 educational institutions in the region have been damaged, including over 300 kindergartens and nearly 400 schools.
14-year-old Yeva Yatsyk's school is one of them. In July 2022, her school was destroyed in a Russian missile attack. No one was inside when the missile hit, as students had already been forced to study from home because of the war.
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"It is a horrible situation, I think, because, like, thousands of students don't have an opportunity to keep learning," Yatsyk said. "It was like losing a part of myself because it was a place where I grew up, where I like, make memories and where I plan my future."
First with the pandemic, and then Russia's invasion, for the better part of four years, there was no going to school for Yatsyk. And then, last fall in Kharkiv, in-person education resumed, but not in the way students were used to. Classrooms now exist in underground bunkers and the subway.
Scripps News joined Yatsyk on her first day back to something resembling a real school.
"It was amazing," Yatsyk said of her first day back. "I met my classmates, and we were so happy. I miss the most, like, the communication with my classmates because it is important, especially as a teenager, to have friends your age to talk with."
When asked if it felt normal to go to school in the subway, Yatsyk said yes.
"I think it's more normal than on computer," she said.
Online learning is not completely done away with, however. Yatsyk told Scripps News she only gets to attend school in person twice a week. The rest is on a computer.
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Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov acknowledged that this setup is not sustainable.
"You know, this is not enough. We understand that," Terekhov said. "But compared to the fact that they studied online, this is something at least."
Returning to school as it once was before February 2022 is still not an option.
"We can't have real schools, because the S-300 missile is flying to Kharkiv from the territory of the Russian Federation in less than a minute, 50 seconds," Terekhov said.
Students only have one minute of warning before deadly explosives can turn Kharkiv's schools into part of the battlefield.
Among those hit, Scripps News identified Kharkiv School No. 17 with a gaping hole in its wall after Russian shelling in March 2022. This school was one of three hit during that attack, which targeted numerous civilian areas across Kharkiv city.
Also in Kharkiv, School No. 35 was also destroyed by Russian shelling. The principal inside during the attack miraculously survived.
In February 2022, Russian troops occupied Kharkiv school No. 134, a German-language specialty school, and made a last stand there. In an intense battle, the building was engulfed in flames.
But Ukraine's students are resilient. In the shadows of the ruins and rubble of School No. 134, a group of students performed the traditional graduation dance with a video posted online for all to see.
It was an act of resistance in the face of war.
