Kids descend to the bunker at Ukraine's first underground school

A teacher and pupils walk to a classroom for a first lesson at the first heavily fortified underground school that allows children to safely return to in-person studies, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine May 13, 2024. REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy

KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) - Two teachers met them with a smile at the steel door, and down the concrete staircase the mother and daughter clattered, hand in hand, through another blast door and into the bunker for the first day of school.

Hundreds of children began lessons this week in Ukraine's first purpose-built bunker school, 6 metres (20 feet) below the ground to protect them from Russian drone and missile attacks.