70% of Ukrainian schools reopen in person despite wartime risks

Over 8,000 schools in Ukraine will resume in-person classes starting September 1, according to the Ministry of Education and Science. Approximately 70% of schools will hold classes in person, while 19% will implement a mixed format. Remote learning will be provided at 11% of institutions. The format for each school is determined based on local security conditions and the availability of bomb shelters, aiming to keep children within the education system despite the ongoing conflict.

Over 3.5 million students across 11,940 schools are expected to start the school year, including 243,398 first-graders. All 11,622 pre-school institutions will also open on September 1, with 80% operating in person, 9.6% in a mixed format, and 10.4% remotely. More than 80% of pre-schools in person or mixed format have shelters either on-site or within 100 meters.

On the first day of the school year, as schools in Kyiv and surrounding regions held opening ceremonies, Russian forces attacked the capital and the oblast. Air defenses were activated in response to a drone attack, which struck a high-rise residential building in Kyiv's Podilskyi district. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his frustration during a school visit, criticizing the Russians for involving children in the war and threatening further action.

Overnight into September 1, Russia carried out a massive combined strike on Kyiv, damaging a railway depot and high-rise residential building in the capital and residential buildings, businesses, and infrastructure facilities in Boryspil, Kyiv Oblast. Preliminary data indicates 12 people were killed in Kyiv and the surrounding region.