Alevtyna is the principal of Lyceum No. 34 in Kyiv. When the invasion began, she went to work, taking her two dogs with her instead of her emergency suitcase. She stayed at the school for a whole year.

The lyceum turned into a real help centre, with residents from nearby houses coming here for a place to sleep, for food, for a sense of security. There were a lot of them – hundreds and hundreds – who needed to be accommodated and fed.

And the day came when the lyceum saved these people – a terrible missile strike on a neighbouring house created a powerful blast wave. It smashed windows and tore out doors. But it could not reach the people.

For a long time afterwards, Alevtyna and her colleagues were cleaning up the aftermath of the strike. They did it even during the winter blackouts. They had a goal – to teach children again. And in 2023, the lyceum reopened its doors for full-time education.