KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine told schools on Tuesday to hold classes remotely from Feb. 22 to 24 because of the risk of Russian missile strikes around the first anniversary of Moscow’s 2022 invasion.
Russia has carried out regular missile and drone strikes since October, and Kyiv says Moscow could unleash a new barrage to mark Friday’s anniversary.
The education ministry issued a statement saying it had made the recommendation to schools “to protect the lives and health of all participants in the educational process, as a preventive measure before the anniversary”.
Hundreds of schools have been destroyed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Many other schools have been forced to hold a blend of in-person and remote classes because of problems such as regular power cuts caused by Moscow’s campaign of air strikes.
Schools were only allowed to hold in-person classes this academic year if they had a functioning bomb shelter.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Timothy Heritage)
