Ukraine war: School frozen in time after it was used as bomb shelter during nine months of fear
The date scribbled on the blackboard of a classroom in southern Ukraine still reads 23 February.
It was the day before Russia launched its invasion – and the last time children in the village of Snihurivka were able to study at their school.
Lines of desks and chairs stand empty – as if frozen in time.
An abandoned pair of little shoes, a drawstring bag of clothes and the odd pen offer the only hint of the routine, school-time bustle that once filled this building.
In its place for the past nine months has been only fear as the building became an impromptu bomb shelter for local residents.
Only now are staff finally able to consider reopening to students after a major Ukrainian counter-offensive recaptured the village, in the region of Mykolaiv, from Russian hands just over a fortnight ago, the deputy headmistress said.
“To be honest, when liberation happened, we were crying,” said Iryna Zaveriuhina, 52. “We could all breathe more easily.”
She showed Sky News how airstrikes from the early days of the war had shattered many of the school’s windows.
But the building includes a sprawling basement, which offered a vital place of sanctuary for around 400 adults and children to escape the threat from rockets and missiles.
The school has not been used since the day before the Russian invasion
Some came just at night. Others stayed down in the basement all the time – from the beginning of the invasion until after the Ukrainian forces arrived. The last two guests had only just dared to venture home when Sky News visited the school on Thursday.
A row of children’s beds, one with a soft toy, can still be seen in the darkness lining the wall of one large, underground room. There is also a dirty bowl on the side.
There are no lights so the only way to see was with a torch light from our mobile phones.
Teachers are hoping to reopen the school
Ms Zaveriuhina spent the first few weeks of the war helping out in the basement every other day from 8pm to 8am until the village fell under Russian control on 19 March.
She stopped visiting at that point but many others still used it.
Asked how she felt about returning to the shelter, she said: “To be honest I don’t know how to describe my feelings. I wish people never have to live again in basements. Some families were really scared and children as well. It was a nightmare.”
The school basement was used as a shelter
The teacher described how, despite the hardship of Russian occupation, residents remained defiant, with people often daring to raise the Ukrainian flag overnight on a flagpole outside the school – only for the Russians to bring it down the following day.
With the Russian forces now gone, the focus for teachers is to repair the damage the school suffered, regain electricity and work to enable children to return to class.
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The school normally holds around 350 pupils, aged six to 17, though Ms Zaveriuhina believes fewer than 50 of them are still in the village, as many families fled.
She is hopeful they will return. In the meantime, teachers have distributed a lot of books to parents to enable them to teach their children at home. A lack of internet and power means remote, online learning is particularly challenging.
“As soon as everyone is back here, everything will be okay. We are hoping for that,” she said.
Lidiia Varaksa’s kitchen was destroyed by a munition
Down the road from the school is a different example of resilience and survival.
At 82, Lidiia Varaksa was knocked off her feet and hit her head on a table when a munition exploded outside her small bungalow a few weeks ago, shattering an outdoor kitchen and punching pock marks into walls and pipes.
“This was my fridge,” she said, holding up the remains of a battered door. “Everything was hit.”
She lives alone, except for a dog, and has not heard from her two sons.
Lidiia Varaksa has not heard from her two sons
Her hair wrapped in a mustard-yellow headscarf, she said she did not know how she would be able to afford the repair work for her home and was worried about the approaching winter, as there was still no power for heat and light.
“How do I feel? I’m walking around and crying. There is nothing else I can do,” she said.
But she is not giving up.
“When the Ukrainian forces came here, people started to come out from their cellars.
“In my opinion, if I could just continue living like this until the end of my days, it can just be like that.
“Collapsed, destroyed [home], I don’t mind. I want to live peacefully until the end of my days.”
World
Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs – in worst day for indexes since COVID
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As it happened: Worst week’s trading in five years
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Read more: What’s a bear market?
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indian and Israeli representatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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Do Trump’s tariffs add up?
Read more:
Markets gave Trump a clear no-confidence vote
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow
China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
World
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.
His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Read more from Sky News:
Highs and lows of Five-Year Keir
MP tells Sky News she was targeted online by Tate brothers
The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
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