Olka Kossowska

Since the onset of the full-scale invasion in 2022, daily life in Ukraine has moved underground. This series documents the adaptation of basements, cellars, and technical corridors into air raid shelters.

Following safety guidelines issued in July 2022, which mandated certified shelter capacity for schools and hospitals, these spaces underwent significant changes. I documented this evolution in public institutions across Ukraine: from the initial, temporary use of pallets and makeshift bedding on concrete floors to the creation of organized, semi-permanent environments.

The photographs record the current reality of these shelters. They show the physical interventions made to the infrastructure—from basic seating arrangements to murals painted on the walls—as civilians adapt these technical spaces for long-term use.

 

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Tennis balls are fitted onto exposed pipes inside a bomb shelter at Specialized School No. 254, Kyiv. The improvised padding is intended to reduce the risk of head injuries in the confined basement space during air raid alerts, when children and staff shelter for extended periods. Such low-cost adaptations have become common in Ukrainian schools, where basements are repurposed as civil defense shelters amid the ongoing war.
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A section of a bomb shelter inside Specialized School No. 254, Kyiv. School chairs line the tiled basement wall beneath ventilation ducts, while drinking water, fire extinguishing equipment, and basic hygiene supplies are stored nearby. Family photographs and images from school life remain displayed on the wall, contrasting memories of normalcy with the space’s current function as a shelter during air raid alerts. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, such school basements have been repurposed as part of the country’s civil defense infrastructure.
A makeshift bomb shelter inside Specialized School No. 254, Kyiv. 01.2023 Rows of school chairs are arranged along the reinforced basement walls, insulated with emergency foil, forming a temporary waiting area for students and staff during air raid alerts. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, school basements across the country have been adapted into civil defense shelters, becoming part of the everyday educational infrastructure amid the ongoing war.
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Mrs. Lidia Chorb, activist and former member of the Ukrainian parliament, waits in an air raid shelter for the alarm to end. She arrived at the refugee centre in Stebnyk near Drochobych from Dnipropetrovsk, from where she was evacuated in May 2022. In early September, forty refugees were living in the centre. In anticipation of another wave of refugees in the winter months, another 150 places were prepared for them.ere prepared for them.