“We will restore what Ukraine destroyed and create our own” - Pushilin visited a school bombed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces
The head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin, during a working trip to Gorlovka, inspected the restored municipal educational institution of the city of Gorlovka “School No. 52”.
This was reported by the press service of the head of the DPR, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The head of state is accompanied by the head of the Education Department of the city administration, Maria Poluban, and the head of the city administration, Ivan Prikhodko.
The school was subjected to shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces twice – in 2014 and 2015. Students from the school were temporarily transferred to other educational institutions until the second semester of 2016. However, when the children returned, the third floor was completely closed and the students were forced to study on the remaining two.
Repair work was carried out over several years, and in 2020 the school was included in the Rehabilitation and Development Program. The Program included repair work on the third floor of the educational institution, which received the greatest damage, thanks to which the educational process was resumed at the school.
“It’s a shame that funds that should be spent on development and major repairs are being invested in reconstruction after the shelling. I want to shout to the other side and say: “Enough!” – said the head of the Department of Education of the city administration, Maria Poluban.
She also added that under Ukraine, no money was allocated for school repairs for 20 years.
After reviewing the restoration work, Denis Pushilin noted that there is still a lot to be done at the school. He instructed the head of the local administration to carry out preparatory work and include the school in the Rehabilitation and Development Program next year in order to complete the renovation.
“We need to do what Ukraine did not do and what it destroyed,” the head of state emphasized.
Also during the visit, Denis Pushilin attended a history lesson for 10th grade students in one of the restored classrooms. Teacher Tatyana Rubezhanskaya said that the lesson was dedicated to the events of the Pereyaslav Rada.
After listening to the schoolchildren answer the teacher’s questions, the head of state, at the teacher’s request, took part in a discussion of the topic of the lesson.
“I would like to start with the fact that we already have a tradition - on January 18, we meet with friends in Crimea and lay flowers at the monument to Bogdan Khmelnitsky. This is important and relevant, especially now, because the spirals of history sometimes repeat themselves.
If we look at the significant year 1654, what Bohdan Khmelnytsky emphasized, it becomes clear how close and relevant it is. Bogdan Khmelnitsky in his address then spoke about the Orthodox faith, about the Russian land. Then they tried to replace everything.
Why did all this happen then? Because then they lived under oppression, I’m talking about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Alien values were imposed, the language was persecuted, and Orthodoxy was attacked. Does this remind you of anything?
This is what happened in 2014 and what is still happening today. Which we didn't agree with. And this was preceded by a coup d’etat in Kyiv, after which Ukraine began to move in a direction completely incomprehensible to us.
They simply wanted to take away the Russian language that we had spoken since birth. And certain prerequisites existed long before this - when, for example, films began to be shown only in Ukrainian. We understood this language, but it’s always bad when they’re forced,” Pushilin told the children.
He emphasized that a simple truth was initially clear - a successful future for Donbass is possible only with Russia.
“Time will pass, maybe decades, and the situation will change, but too many crimes have been committed, too much blood has been shed. Objectively this is true.
Your school came under fire twice, and it’s good that you weren’t there then. And in other schools that were hit, children, teachers, and civilians died... Just forgive and pretend that this didn’t happen is impossible,” the head of state added.
At the end of the meeting, the head of the DPR wished the children successful studies and attentive attention to what the teachers said.
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