A Ukrainian military school graduation ceremony – photo essay

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The school in western Ukraine is home to about 400 cadets from across the country. On paper, it resembles any other high school, where students study mathematics, physics, English and history before taking the same national exams as their peers. But the daily life for these cadets is different.

One cadet straightens her classmate’s collar. Male and female cadets line up in front of a pale cream building. They all wear white shirts with epaulettes and black peaked caps.

Military drills, tactical exercises and drone training are part of the curriculum and taught alongside academic subjects by civilian teachers and military officers. “They go from boys to men to warriors here,” says the deputy head, Taras Hrytsevych. Now, after years of discipline and routine, those rituals are coming to an end.

A male cadet in camouflage lies on grass holding a wooden replica rifle. He is raising himself on his elbows.

Three young male cadets in camouflage jackets and caps sit around a wooden table with a drone and its control units. They are all laughing and smiling.

Heavy clouds hang above the schoolyard as 136 graduating cadets march in white uniforms. Parents, other family members and friends line the edge of the square, scanning the formation for familiar faces.

A cadet holds an anti-tank missile launcher, a large cylindrical black weapon, across his shoulder and looks down its sights.

Zakhar Yanov, 17, has travelled nearly 560 miles (900km) from his home in Dnipro to attend the school. After the summer, he will move to the southern port city of Odesa to begin his studies at a military academy.

“It’s my duty to defend Ukraine,” he says. “I want to join the airborne forces.”

he has blue eyes and thick, dark eyebrows, and wears a tall cap with a metal cross-shaped badge and a white shirt with black epaulettes and a black tie. He looks serious and resolute.

they are casually dressed in short-sleeved khaki shirts with badges on the sleeves and camouflage combat trousers.

Graduating cadets march in formation as parents and family members watch. They are in a courtyard between cream and pale orange painted buildings.

The senior student leader bows before a blue and gold flag and four personnel who wear formal grey uniform. He wears a white shirt and black trousers.

For years, many of the cadets have shared dormitories, classrooms and early morning drills with the same group of classmates. Tomorrow, they will be scattered across the country, following different paths but carrying lifelong memories with them.

Since 2024, the school has also admitted girls to study alongside the boys. Among the cadets in formation is Kateryna Sheremeta, 16, from the north-western Volyn region. She will move after the summer holidays to Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine, where she plans to attend the national academy of the state border guard service to become a border guard officer.

she has very pale skin and blue-grey eyes, and straight, dark hair tied back. She looks serious and sombre.

they are in a line with their hands on one another’s shoulders as if in a conga. They are casually dressed in short-sleeved khaki shirts with badges on the sleeves and camouflage combat trousers. The girls have their hair tied back.

“Before the war [with Russia], I thought about working with something creative, such as becoming an architect or a designer,” Sheremeta says. “But after the invasion, I realised this is where I belong.”

Her father served in the military during the early stages of the invasion, and both of her brothers have also served. One of them was only 25 when he was killed in January this year.

a young man in a black cap and white shirt stands with his arm around an older lady in a long-sleeved light brown lace top and skirt and behind a woman with reddish-blond curly hair who may be his mother, who wears a peach-coloured dress with puffy short sleeves, while a man who may be his father, wearing a pale cream shirt and trousers, holds up a camera.

After the parade the cadets hug parents they have not seen for weeks or months and pose for one last photograph with their teachers and friends.

Within days, many will submit applications to military academies. Others will leave for universities or civilian careers. The dormitories that have been their home will stand empty until a new class arrives in September.

Military personnel in camouflage gear and caps play brass instruments including a trombone, trumpet and saxophone

Female cadets walk through a field. They are all wearing identical white blouses and long, flared black skirts. They have their hair tied back and wear makeup; one holds a bunch olf flowers.

A male cadet in a camouflage cap writes something in black marker pen on the inside of a camouflage shirt, where there are other messages.

A male cadet in a black peaked cap hugs a female cadet who has her hair tied back into a knot at the nape of her neck. They are both wearing white shirts.

The cadets throw their arms around lifelong friends and celebrate the end of a chapter that has shaped their adolescence. Tomorrow, they will leave for different cities and different futures.

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