UNICEF: 200,000 schoolchildren studying amid armed hostilities in eastern Ukraine

As the statement of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reads, hundreds of schools have been destroyed and damaged over four years of the conflict in Ukraine.

In particular, at least 45 schools were damaged or destroyed over the past 16 months.

"Children study in schools with bullet holes in walls and windows clogged with sandbags. Bombproof shelters are equipped in cellars, and shell fragments remain in the courtyards. The education system in eastern Ukraine has been caught in the crossfire for more than four years," UNICEF Representative in Ukraine Giovanna Barberis said.

The military facilities located nearby, for example, ammunition depots and checkpoints, pose the biggest threat for children on both sides of the contact line, the UNICEF Representative in Ukraine noted.

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