School dating back two centuries almost destroyed by Russian shelling in Kherson

On May 11, the Russian occupiers fired artillery at the building of one of Kherson's oldest educational institutions.

The local authorities reported this in the afternoon. In the evening, the head of the Kherson City Military Administration, Roman Mrochko, clarified that it was the shelling of the building of gymnasium No. 20 (preparatory high school).

"Kherson: Gymnasium No. 20 is almost destroyed! The enemy always acts vilely and like non-humans! The guard surprisingly remained alive!!!" Mrochko wrote in his Telegram channel.

The Kherson regional military administration reported that the projectile strike caused a fire, which rescuers extinguished. Civilians were not injured.

"The gymnasium No.20, a historical building… The destinies of thousands of people of Kherson are connected with it… This is something that cannot be recreated," commented Oleksandr Spivakovskyi, the rector of Kherson State University, which is now displaced to Ukraine's west because of Russian occupation and shelling.

Ukraine's southern city of Kherson has been consistently shelled and bombed by Russian forces since the city was liberated from a nine-month-long Russian occupation in November 2022. The Russian troops have targeted civilian residential areas, energy, and logistics infrastructure. The latest Russian shelling of a railway station, a gas station, a supermarket, and a hypermarket in one area on May 3, 2023, killed 23 people and injured 46.

This is also not the first attack by the Russian forces on the building of gymnasium No. 20. The consequences of previous shelling are ruined classrooms, destroyed walls, and broken windows.

Multidisciplinary school No. 20 is Kherson's first secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1815 as a men's gymnasium. It bears the name of a native of the city and a graduate of the gymnasium, writer Boris Lavrenov, and has the status of a historical monument.

"This is a pain for all parents, students, and teachers. The gymnasium has more than 200 years of history. This year it is 208 years old," the head of the city department of education, Natalia Zhurzhenko, commented. "More than 1,000 children were studied before the full-fledged invasion. The educational process continues remotely. Now we need to think about how to resume learning offline from September 1 and where the gymnasium will be able to start this process."

The shelling also struck the territory of a public transport company. "Due to enemy shelling, the roof of the building and the trolley bus was damaged," the Kherson regional government's press service reported. "According to preliminary information, civilians were not injured."

The police of the Kherson region opened criminal proceedings under Article 438 (Violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

"The oldest educational institution in Kherson's historical center was hit by shells from occupiers. Following the strike, a fire started within the building. Unfortunately, the gymnasium was almost destroyed," the police report for May 11 stated. "Also, two police cars were damaged by fragments from the shells. The employees were not injured. The occupiers attacked objects of critical infrastructure, a public transport enterprise, where a trolley bus was damaged after shelling, and an administrative building was maimed."