A Ukrainian military school graduation ceremony – photo essay

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

“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.

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.

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.