On the one hill with mobile signal, Ukrainian kids build makeshift classroom

Mykola Dziuba and his two friends attend an online class in a makeshift classroom built by them from wooden poles and plastic sheeting on the only hill in the village that catches mobile internet, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Hontarivka, Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 13, 2023. REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi

HONTARIVKA, Ukraine (Reuters) - At the only place in their village where they could find a strong mobile internet signal - a windswept hill on the barren steppe - Ukrainian fifth-grader Mykola Dziuba and his friends have built makeshift tent to serve as a remote classroom.

"We sit here for around two or three hours, sometimes just for an hour," said Dziuba as the wind rattled the rickety structure. "When it got cold recently, it wasn't too great."