TY - JOUR AU - Kostikova, Ilona PY - 2022/10/23 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - To the Authors, Researchers, Colleagues, Readers, Friends! JF - Educational Challenges JA - EdCh VL - 27 IS - 2 SE - DO - UR - http://educationalchallenges.org.ua/index.php/education_challenges/article/view/94 SP - 8-15 AB - <p><strong>DEAR AUTHORS, RESEARCHERS, COLLEAGUES, READERS, AND FRIENDS!</strong></p><p>The Russian-Ukrainian war has been lasting for 7 months since <strong>February 24, 2022</strong>. I’m still in Kharkiv, helping my city, university, students, colleagues, old and sick people who stayed in the city. My house and apartment are not ruined, fortunately.</p><p>For the first war days everything stopped because of bombing and shelling: shops, banks, transport, schools and universities. For several days there were no light, water, Internet. But we did not surrender and capitulate, and the life went on in March. After first war weeks, everything began to alive and everybody learnt to survive and live in the war. Later, in April the schools and universities started online education, transport began to work, Kharkiv underground started. The spring came. We began to collect the journal articles, in some of them you can see the war reflections.</p><p>Many people helped Ukraine, Ukrainian people, thanks them. About 7 million Ukrainians were internally displaced, nearly 7 million have fled as refugees. But many Ukrainian scholars, for private, civil, legal, professional reasons decided not to leave the country, even in wartime. The journal foreign editorial members, scholars helped us a lot.</p><p><em>André Luís Specht</em>, Professor, Mid-West State University, Brazil, donated to our Ukrainian department University students and helped 15 orphans-students, he helped to the ruined department. <em>Zhanna Tzeinman</em>, Professor, Davidson Institute of Science Education at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, donated to the University colleagues’ help and military plate carriers that saved the lives. <em>Supporting Ukrainian Editorial Staff</em> (<em>SUES) Group, France,</em> <em>Rémy Ienco, </em>in his person, provided the journal with a scholarship to go on publishing issues.</p><p>Since February 24, 2022, Kharkiv has been mercilessly and brutally shelling; numerous buildings, universities, schools, cultural monuments have been damaged or destroyed totally. It happened in summer with one of the University buildings too. Unfortunately, my Department and my Faculty were heavily damaged. Despite heavy strikes, shelling and battles, we blocked off and closed the building windows. The autumn came, but the war still goes on. However, I know and have no doubt that light will conquer the darkness. We’ll do everything to bring the Ukrainian victory closer. Glory to Ukraine!</p><p>THANK YOU!</p> ER -