Sawt Falasteen - 'Really worried': Ukrainian pupils mark end of school as war drags on

Her son had finished school despite years of disruption -- first from the coronavirus pandemic and then Russia's invasion -- but she worried about what his future would hold in a country at war.

Despite peace talks and a flurry of diplomacy to try to end the war, Ukraine's class of 2025 -- like the three before them -- graduate into a country under daily bombardment and with no sign Moscow wants to halt its invasion.

"Like every mother, I am worried about my child's future. At school he was better protected in case of attacks. But adult life, unfortunately, can be more difficult," Baranovska, 42, told AFP.

"I'm a servicewoman myself, and I was really worried about my child's life because I fully understand the situation in the country," she said.

When Vladyslav turns 18, he will be barred from leaving the country under Ukraine's martial law.

Baranovska, who worked as a border guard, said she offered her son one last opportunity to take a trip abroad before his birthday.

But he insisted on staying in his homeland.

- 'Screw Putin' -

On Friday he took part in his school's "Last Bell" ceremony, a tradition in which a top student rings a bell in a symbolic mark of the end of the academic year.

Boys in suits then led girls dressed in white dresses to a waltz in the school's courtyard.

Schoolmaster Olga Tymoshenko breathed a sigh of relief.

"We are all alive, all healthy, we were all together. That's why the year was great despite everything," she told AFP.

The threat of Russian attacks hovers constantly over schools across Ukraine.

Air alerts forced children to miss an average of one in every five school lessons over the past academic year, according Save the Children.

The United Nations says more than 1,600 schools were damaged or destroyed in the first three years of the war launched in February 2022.

In the country's east, closer to the front line, schools have been forced underground, where students and teachers are better protected from incoming shells.

Tymoshenko said the children had learned safety measures.

"When the alarm sounds, they are the first to run there, they know their places. You know, children adapt to everything very quickly," she said.

Graduation passed without any air raid sirens -- to Vladyslav's relief.

The 17-year-old also had a message for pupils on the other side of the border -- and front line -- in Russia.

"Please stop this war at any cost. It will be better for you and for the whole world," he said. "And screw Putin."

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST