Ribbons And Bells As Children Return To School Across Former Soviet Block

Schoolchildren attend a ceremony on the first day at school in Kharkiv on September 1.

Ukraine marks September 1 as Knowledge Day, a traditional launch of the academic year. Most of the children wear traditional "vysivanka" shirts.

The celebration of the first day at school in Kharkiv takes place in an underground subway station for security reasons, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine. 

For this school year, the second since the war with Russia started, most schools in Ukraine resumed on September 1, except for those in territories close to the front lines, which will implement online teaching. 

Schoolgirls sing Ukraine's national anthem as they attend a ceremony for the first day of school in Bucha, near Kyiv.

First-graders play near a school before a ceremony to mark the start of the new school year in Kyiv

Schoolchildren take part in a "first bell" ceremony to mark the beginning of the new school year at a newly opened school in Mariupol on September 1.

The Russian Defense Ministry has completed the construction of a new comprehensive school in Mariupol for 1,100 students, its press service said. In May 2022, the Ukrainian port of Mariupol fell to Russian forces after weeks of fighting that left the city almost completely devastated.

Students look through copies of a new Russian history textbook at a secondary school in the city of Shchastye. The controversial textbook, authored by Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky and MGIMO University Rector Anatoly Torkunov, contains a section on Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine

A pin reading "I'm a first-grader 2023" adorns the jacket of a schoolboy during a "first bell" ceremony to mark the beginning of the school year in Moscow on September 1.

Russian schools traditionally open on September 1, with more than 2 million children expected to attend the first class in more than 40,000 secondary schools this year in Russia. 

Russian schoolboys parade with a Russian national tricolor flag during a "first bell" ceremony in Moscow on September 1. 

Moldovan kids gesture during the first day of school at a ceremony in Chisinau on September 1.

Thefirst day of school is celebrated at a school in Chisinau.

A girl makes a heart sign during a Knowledge Day celebration at a secondary school in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on September 1.

First-graders are guided by their new teacher to their classroom in Bishkek.

Forty new schools opened their doors across Kyrgyzstan on September 1.