Nikonova recorded the video inside the burned-out school building and addressed an international audience in English. She posted the video on her Instagram page.
“Hi everyone, I’m Anna Nikonova, and right now I’m in Kyiv, at the school my mom built and where I studied,” she said. “Right now, I’m standing on the stage where I used to perform. It’s really hard to be here and see the consequences of the war and what it does to schools and other places all across Ukraine.”
Nikonova said she is now working at the school and helping restore it after the Russian attack. Being there is painful and deeply emotional for her, she added.
“I see the impact the war has, especially on children,” Nikonova said. “This place, where music used to play loudly, where people laughed, danced and performed, has now become so dark and destroyed. It makes me incredibly sad.”
Nikonova said she is working with teachers and other staff to rebuild the school because she wants to make it “a bright and happy place for children again, so they can enjoy their childhood and show their talents.”
“This is how I want to represent Ukraine — not through the pain people experience while going through this war, but through the people who work to rebuild everything and become stronger,” she said. “My mission is to show the world that even despite the war, children in Ukraine receive a quality education.”
‘We continue to create a future for our children’
Nikonova accompanied the video with a post reflecting on Ukrainian children as the new school year began on Sept. 1.
“Today is Sept. 1, a day that has always been associated with children, new beginnings, laughter and the excitement that comes with the start of a new school year,” she wrote. “Today, I think a lot about Ukrainian children. About those who have been deprived of a normal school life. About schools and educational spaces that have been destroyed. About children who will never sit at their desks again.”
The A+ Academy of Modern Education was damaged overnight on June 15 during a Russian attack on Kyiv. A fire broke out inside the school.
The school is located in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi District, within the Comfort Town residential complex.
A nine-story apartment building across from the school was also damaged in the attack, with windows shattered and its facade damaged. Several cars also burned.
“Seeing these images is an indescribable pain for me,” Nikonova said. “This place is a huge part of my life, my family and my story.”
She said she often thinks about the collective effort now required simply to keep education going — to reopen Ukrainian schools, meet in person, see one another, study, grow and give children the opportunity to dream and build their futures.
“Our schools may be damaged, but we keep rebuilding them,” Nikonova said. “We keep teaching. We keep creating a future for our children.”