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, highlighting their evolution from temporary refuges to semi-permanent environments.

 

Following safety guidelines issued in July 2022, which mandated certified shelter capacity for public institutions to reopen, schools faced stark logistical realities. These regulations often force difficult compromises affecting the most vulnerable. At the Hlynska Special School in the Sumy region, a boarding institution for children with disabilities, the shelter's physical limits dictate the students' lives. While 88 children reside at the school, the certified bunker can only accommodate 53 people. Consequently, the administration must operate on a rotational basis: children are forced to return home for two weeks, only spending the alternating two weeks at the facility, disrupting their education and care routine.

 

In cities like Lviv, these spaces serve a dual purpose, requiring strict access protocols. While schools function as public shelters for the neighborhood during night raids, priority is strictly reserved for students and staff during the day. This time-shared existence highlights the constant negotiation between maintaining a functional education system and providing civil defense for the community.

 

The photographs record the current reality of this shared existence. They show the physical interventions made to the infrastructure—from basic seating arrangements to murals painted on walls—as civilians, educators, and children adapt these technical spaces for long-term survival.

 

The material was produced for Smartaid.

A woman walks past the Independence Monument "Flying Ukraine" shrouded in protective coverings in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, on December 7, 2025. Before the invasion, Ukraine's second-largest city was home to nearly 1.5 million people. While many fled the initial onslaught, the city remains a bustling metropolis of over a million residents, now including a significant number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) seeking refuge from occupied or frontline territories. As authorities work to maintain infrastructure and protect cultural heritage sites like this wrapped monument, Kharkiv has transformed into a resilient hub of survival just 40 kilometers from the Russian border.
Students and teachers shelter in the basement of the "Oriana" Lyceum in Lviv, western Ukraine, during an air raid alarm in January 2023. As the war continues through another winter, moving classes underground has become a routine part of the education system. The colorful murals on the walls attempt to normalize the space, providing a stark contrast to the grim reality of children forced to spend hours of their school day waiting for safety in winter coats.
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.
A student sits amidst empty rows of seats in the auditorium of the Hlynska Special School in the Sumy region, Ukraine, on December 6, 2025. Located near the Russian border, the boarding institution faces critical infrastructure constraints dictated by wartime safety regulations. Because the school's certified air raid shelter can only accommodate 53 people—while the student body numbers 88—the administration is forced to operate on a rotational basis. Students alternate between two weeks at the facility and two weeks at home, a disruption that leaves parts of the school eerily empty and interrupts the routine essential for children with special needs.
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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.
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Students and teachers shelter in the basement of the "Oriana" Lyceum in Lviv, western Ukraine, during an air raid alarm in November 2023. As the war continues through another winter, moving classes underground has become a routine part of the education system. The colorful murals on the walls attempt to normalize the space, providing a stark contrast to the grim reality of children forced to spend hours of their school day waiting for safety in winter coats.
Children's backpacks hang against a camouflage-painted wall inside the bomb shelter of Secondary School No. 222 in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 2, 2025
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