A new underground school has opened in Ukraine’s frontline Sumy region with funding from the EU and Lithuania, and support from Ireland.
The facility was built as a dual-purpose shelter and will operate as a fully equipped underground school designed to keep classes running during emergencies, the EU Delegation to Ukraine informed on Monday, cited by the European External Action Service (EEAS).
Sumy, which borders Russia, has faced frequent artillery shelling, air strikes and power outages.
Students who had been learning online-only for four years because there was no suitable shelter can now return to in-person classes, according to the statement.
The underground school has 12 classrooms and capacity for 500 people, with lessons and activities planned in shifts so all students can attend.
The school opened on 4 September 2026, with attendees including EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová, Lithuanian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kristupas Vaitiekūnas, Ukrainian Deputy Education Minister Dmytro Zavhorodnii and local officials.
Mathernová said the facility would allow hundreds of children in the region to learn in person despite ongoing attacks.
Cost, facilities and wider programme
The project cost €2.4 million and was completed in under a year, with the building covering more than 1,350 square metres, the EU Delegation to Ukraine said.
It includes technology-equipped classrooms, computer labs and sports zones, alongside ventilation, climate control and fire safety systems, it added. A double-protected back-up generator was installed to keep the school operating during attacks, it said.
The project was implemented by the Lithuanian International Partnership Center under the “New Underground Shelters for Ukrainian Schools” programme, which funds dual-purpose shelters in heavily affected regions, according to the EU Delegation to Ukraine. Schools in six regions were selected, with the first shelter completed in Odesa and the next planned for Zaporizhzhia in 2026, followed by projects in Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Kharkiv, it said.
Ukrainian war veterans made up more than 11% of the construction workforce on the Sumy project, the EU Delegation to Ukraine said.
