POPASNA, Ukraine — Dressed mostly as superheroes and princesses, the second graders lined up on the stage by the Christmas tree waiting for their presents. Ded Moroz — a Slavic version of Santa Claus — in turn sat them on his laps for parting wishes and then handed over shiny bags full of sweets.
There was loud festive music in the concert hall, and no one paid attention to the posters plastered on the walls warning how to avoid stepping on mines.
On Dec. 28, School No. 1 in Popasna had Christmas and New Year celebrations for the entire day. Both teachers and schoolchildren wore their best attire and festive hairstyles. They had many reasons for grief in Popasna after more than two and a half years of Russia’s war against Ukraine, but now it was time to celebrate.
Popasna is a city of some 20,000 residents in Luhansk Oblast, located just 14 kilometers from the separatist-held Pervomaisk. Back in 2014, the city passed between sides several times and became the site of massive shelling. More than 30 of its residents have been killed by shells since the beginning of the war.
Alyona Filishtinska, a 10th grader who was a presenter at the school party, remembered that in June 2014, the dead bodies of people killed by shells were laid out near the local stadium. A local school teacher’s husband was killed after a shell hit the bus stop.
Filishtinska remembers that she used to ride to Pervomaisk by bicycle in some 40 minutes to visit her relatives. Now, the frontline separates Pervomaisk from Popasna. But children can see it perfectly from the windows on the third floor of their school.
The school itself was damaged by shells, and some classrooms were burned down. But later, it was restored thanks to Ukrainian and international donors.
While the children were celebrating in the concert hall, a group of soldiers from the civil-military cooperation department brought a group of volunteers and a bag of nets to their school.
Anatoliy Bereslavsky, a military and patriotic education teacher, happily accepted the gift. During breaks between the lessons, children were able to weave together a large military camouflage net in the school.
Bereslavsky proudly showed his class military maps, guns, and uniforms from the soldiers of the Donbas volunteer battalion, who were based in the school in summer 2014. There was also an old saber in red scabbard left from the separatists.
Filishtinska said she liked the military and patriotic education lessons where all the children were taught how shoot pistols and wore military uniforms sewn out of the uniforms left by the Donbas battalion soldiers. “I received a size 50 uniform and I wear a size 42,” she said laughing.
In the evening, many school children went to look at the opening of the big Christmas tree, set in the yard next to their school.
The huge fir tree embroidered with the toys and garlands was the only major source of light for the crowd. But a winter frost, Christmas mood, and playful music had both civilians and soldiers, who came to keep order, dancing by the tree.
Take a look at the Popasna Christmas and New Year celebrations in this photo gallery.
