Only 840 children –it is 8% of the pre-war number of schoolchildren –   showed up at schools in occupied Severodonetsk where Russia-led officials earlier trumpeted opening of 5 local schools after the city was seized by Russian troops, said regional governor Serhiy Gaidai.

The  claims about people returning to the city is out of touch with reality as the numbers have hardly changed over last 3 months, said the governor, adding that ‘there may have been just a few who returned’.

Russians are trying to put back on track 5 schools while having the number of children  they have would fill only 2 schools.

‘Shortage of teachers for all [5] schools doesn’t matter much – there are only 89 teachers employed, but they mostly care for the number of schools,’ added Gaidaii.

In reality,  only one out of those 5 schools  is functional – it has 10 schoolchildren while the rest has ‘odd’ distance learning that sees children meeting their teachers outside the school  to get home assignments as their homes have no power and internet.

Luhansk governor blasted the policy, arguing that you can’t do your homework in physics with lights out.