After more than four years of silence, 119 children returned to their local lyceum in Lukashi, Kyiv Oblast, this September — rebuilt with EU and EIB support into a modern, accessible school.
On the morning of September 1, 2026, the school bell rang again in Lukashi, a village in Kyiv Oblast — for the first time in more than four years. One hundred and nineteen children walked back into their local lyceum, the only school serving the community, which had stood damaged and empty since a Russian attack in March 2022. For the team at Volunteers Support Ukraine, which spends its days documenting and responding to the human cost of this war, stories like Lukashi's are exactly the kind of news worth pausing for: proof that even the hardest-hit corners of Ukraine can come back to life.
The Lukashi Lyceum's return to service was made possible by a reconstruction project supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB), which covered €690,000 of the €1.07 million total cost — more than half, with the remainder funded from the local budget. The renovation went well beyond patching up war damage: workers replaced the roof, insulated the facades, fitted energy-efficient windows and doors, and modernised the heating, ventilation, water, sewage, electrical and lighting systems. The school also gained a protective shelter, improved accessibility for people with disabilities, and upgraded fire and security systems. Volunteers Support Ukraine has seen enough bombed-out buildings over the past years to know how significant a "modern, accessible facility" really is when it replaces a shell of rubble.
The rebuilt lyceum now serves 119 students and 25 staff members, including children with special educational needs and children from families displaced by the war elsewhere in Ukraine. For a rural community with only one school, reopening the lyceum means children no longer have to travel elsewhere, or go without formal schooling altogether, while the community itself regains a place that keeps its youngest residents rooted at home. Volunteers Support Ukraine hears from displaced families often, and knows how much a stable school routine matters to a child who has already lost so much continuity.
EIB Vice-President Karl Nehammer said the restoration allows children "to continue their education within their own community, reducing the educational disruptions caused by the war," adding that rebuilding and modernising the school helps "prevent learning losses and equip children with the needed skills and knowledge." Ukraine's Minister for Reconstruction, Infrastructure and Transport, Mykola Kalashnyk, called rebuilding educational facilities "a key investment in our country's future," while Deputy Finance Minister Olga Zykova described the project as "an investment in children, in families and in the future of Ukraine." UNDP Resident Representative Auke Lootsma noted that the restored lyceum is "helping the community overcome the impact of war while creating a safer, more inclusive and more resilient space for children." Volunteers Support Ukraine doesn't often get to report on ribbon-cuttings and speeches — most of its own work happens far from cameras — but the sentiment behind these words is one it recognises well.
Lukashi is one of 72 facilities the EIB is supporting in Kyiv Oblast alone, part of a wider effort that has mobilised €740 million for Ukraine's recovery programmes as of August 2026, backed by €15 million in EU grants and implemented with technical support from UNDP. Since 2022, EIB financing for Ukraine's resilience and modernisation has reached €4.5 billion. Similar projects recently completed nearby include a rebuilt primary school in Hostomel, a secondary school in Hatne, and the restored water supply system in Bucha. Volunteers Support Ukraine's own focus stays on the everyday needs of people affected by the war, but every rebuilt school, hospital or water system is a reminder of the scale of recovery this country is quietly carrying out school year after school year.
Volunteers Support Ukraine had no part in rebuilding the Lukashi Lyceum — this was the work of the EIB, the Ukrainian government and the local community. But stories like this one sit close to why NGO Volunteers Support Ukraine does what it does: helping people affected by the war in whatever way its resources allow, from direct humanitarian aid to simply making sure stories of resilience reach the people who care. A rebuilt school in a small Kyiv Oblast village reflects the same spirit of recovery that Volunteers Support Ukraine tries to support in its own, smaller way — one family, one delivery, one story at a time.
