Since the start of the year, Russia has been increasing its strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city. After almost two years of war, the city's inhabitants have been adapting to their new way of life across all areas. School, for instance, has been held almost exclusively online as many buildings have been destroyed and are seen as potential targets, while in-person classes are now being held underground in the city's metro stations. FRANCE 24's Ukraine correspondent Gulliver Cragg reports.

2024 has brought renewed Russian shelling on Kharkiv, as yet another school in Ukraine's second city was shelled on January 2. Fortunately, no students were harmed, as schools across the country closed after Russia's invasion on February 24, 2022. While school has been held almost exclusively online since then, the inhabitants of Kharkiv found a creative solution to facilitate in-person instruction, by converting the city's metro stations into classrooms.

"We hadn't worked since February 2022. We all really missed it – the kids, their emotions, their laughter...," says Olena Chyrva, one of the nursery school teachers working in the new Saturday pre-school set up in the metro. Five metro stations in Kharkiv have already been converted into schools. Furthermore, as the trains are still running, children can return home after school, staying safely underground.