Stolen youth: how Ukrainian students pass exams in bomb shelters

Yes, a Russian drone crashed into a university dormitory this weekend. No, exam period isn’t cancelled. Our interns: still writing.

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Photo of a damaged dormitory as a result of the Russian attack on May 25. Photo by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

My heart was pounding more and more with each new explosion.

My knees were shaking because I was crouching in the dormitory corridor with my friends, afraid to get up for even a second.

With the sound of a missile flying over the building, I thought for a second that it was the end.

But I remembered: “We can't die because we haven't defended our thesis yet.”

The war has destroyed typical student life in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, dozens of universities have been shelled, damaged or destroyed. Just this past weekend a Shahed drone damaged several of my university dormitories close to me at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv university.

Despite this, the exam season that was already underway continued.

Ukrainian students took tests in shelters during air raids and prepared for exams under nighttime shelling.

University years, which are often considered to be the most loving memories for the majority of people, turned into a sheer nightmare for Ukrainian youth, who all had to grow up prematurely.

Here’s our story of how that’s happening:

After the paywall:

• Why Zoriana decided to stay in Kyiv despite her fear of constant shelling;

• Zoriana explains the first time she thought she might die, and what happened;

• How Zoriana’s university had dorms was damaged by a Shahed drone.