Attacks on Education and Military Use of Education Facilities in Ukraine in 2022

Since the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, more than 3,500 educational institutions have reportedly been damaged or destroyed by bombing and shelling in Ukraine, according to the country’s Ministry of Education and Science (MoES). Moreover, Save the Children reported that four pre-schools were damaged or destroyed each day on average in the first six months of the war. Education facilities and staff have come under attack in many regions of the country with Kharkiv and Donetsk most affected, according to research from the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) covering February to December 2022. Attacks on schools were the most prevalent, although GCPEA also identified reports of attacks on school teachers and higher education facilities and staff, as well as the military use of educational facilities. The majority of attacks involved explosive weapons, including airstrikes and shelling, according to GCPEA’s analysis.

Beyond the strikes on educational facilities, territorial occupation and fighting have interfered with the provision of education. Many schools have been used for non-educational purposes, including to shelter internally displaced persons. Public buildings, including schools, have also been used to detain individuals during their forced relocation to Russia or occupied areas of Ukraine, in a process known as “filtration.”

Attacks on education in Ukraine increased sharply after the conflict escalated in February 2022, compared to prior years. Between 2014 and early 2022, fighting occurred in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed armed actors along the line of contact separating Ukrainian government-controlled areas from non-governmentcontrolled areas. Save the Children reported that, between 2014 and 2021, about 750 schools were damaged or forced to close in eastern Ukraine. In Education under Attack reports, GCPEA identified over 50 reports of attacks on schools in 2018 and 2019, and approximately 30 reports of attacks on schools in 2020 and 2021.

After February 24, 2022, attacks on education were reported throughout many regions of Ukraine, including in cities in the north and northwest of the country, such as Chernihiv and Zhytomyr, and near the capital, Kyiv. However, since mid-March, attacks on education have been primarily reported in the east, principally in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. GCPEA relied on reports from international and local media, human rights organizations, and Ukrainian authorities for this brief. GCPEA drew on methodologies provided in the Toolkit for Collecting and Analyzing Data on Attacks on Education. GCPEA data analyzed in this report cover the period from February 24 through December 31, 2022.