On September 1, the academic year begins in Ukraine. Millions of children from 5 to 17 years old are returning to school for the first time after the summer holidays. In Ukraine, the solemn part of this day is called the first bell.
Mariupol photographer Evgeny Sosnovsky published photos he took at the first bells at the Mariupol school in 2014-2021. That is all the time of the war on the territory of the temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk. And here, in a few kilometres from the military frontline, we see vyshyvankas, flower wreaths and yellow-blue ribbons and corals - elements of the national clothes of Ukrainians.
"These were the 8 First Septembers in Mariupol school No 66, which I filmed over the course of 8 years, from 2014 to 2022... There were... And the school was... But these photos remain, which may help those who still did not fully understand, even in Ukraine, that Mariupol was, is and will be Ukraine," Evgeny Sosnovsky.
Traditionally, during the national anthem performance, we put a hand on a heart.
