KYIV – Tim Hryshchuk did not imagine spending his first day at school in a basement. But when the air raid alert sounded in Kyiv on September 2, the 5-year-old and his new classmates had no choice but to head underground.

That’s what happens when one starts school during a war.

Russian aerial attacks have become larger and more frequent since Moscow scaled up its drone production at the start of the year. But while most of these assaults used to come at night, there have been more daytime threats in recent weeks.

Kyiv alone has experienced more than 1,800 air alerts, lasting more than 2,200 hours in total, since Russia launched its unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the first two weeks of this month, there were, on average, two air raid alarms a day.

Each one of those alerts puts millions of lives on hold – part of Russia’s strategy of terrorizing and exhausting Ukraine’s civilian population.

“These massive strikes send the same message that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and other high-ranking Kremlin officials have been indicating publicly and repeatedly in the past few months – that Russia is not interested in negotiations or stopping its war,” said Christina Harward, a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor.

Following years of living under this constant threat, Ukrainian schools have developed detailed air raid safety protocols. The orientation for new students now includes information about evacuation routes and shelter locations, as well as the usual mundane tidbits about timetables and dining hall meal-ordering systems.

Liudmyla Andruk, the deputy head of Kyiv Gymnasium of Oriental Languages 1, where Hryshchuk just started as a first grader, said it takes the school’s 700 students six minutes to get to the shelter.

Like every school in Ukraine, this one now also has a police officer based in the building who coordinates the evacuations. “Of course, if we know that it’s a ballistic missile threat, we are trying to get everyone there as soon as possible,” Andruk said.

The deputy head said that while physical safety is a priority, the teachers also bear responsibility for each child’s mental wellbeing.

“Each child is different, some have allergies, some phobias, some find it difficult to sit in a shelter for hours,” she told CNN. “If the alert lasts for hours, we play games, let students chat, tell stories, or show videos. Still, they return exhausted, and it’s hard to get them focused once class resumes.”

Russia has been flooding Ukraine’s skies with drones and missiles with growing intensity in recent months. Earlier this month, it launched more than 800 drones and 13 missiles in a single night, the most ever, killing at least 11 civilians across the country.

The Lavina Mall on the outskirts of Kyiv is Ukraine’s biggest shopping center. During peak hours, there are as many as 20,000 people inside its more than 450 shops and restaurants, and a large multiplex cinema.

An air raid alarm can cause a major logistical headache. “Most people are now so used to alerts that they don’t move fast. We’ve had to increase security staff to guide people and make sure they follow evacuation routes,” Dmytro Lashyn, the mall’s CEO, told CNN.

The movement of that many people often leads to massive traffic jams as people try to reach safety.

Lashyn told CNN that shopping habits have also changed because of the war. Rather than browsing, people tend to shop with purpose, getting what they need just in case an alarm interrupts their day. Spontaneous and emotionally driven purchases are becoming more common.

“Our surveys show that people are living one day at a time. Many ask themselves, ‘Why should I deny myself something? Maybe tomorrow I won’t be in this world anymore because my house will be destroyed by a missile,’” he said.

Cultural events, movie screenings, concerts and theater performances are also impacted on a regular basis. So much so that film producer Oleksiy Komarovsky told CNN that the alarms have created a whole new way of rating movies.

“If people come back to finish the film after a long interruption, then the movie is really good,” Komarovsky said.

The scale of these recent attacks means Ukraine needs any help it can get to minimize the impacts – and volunteers are playing an increasingly important role in the defensive mix.

Civilians are forming units tasked with shooting down smaller drones with machine guns or, most recently, specially developed interceptor drones.

The chief of staff of one of Kyiv’s volunteer formation legions, Andriy, whose call-sign is Stolyar, said his unit is composed of people from all walks of life – from construction workers to businessmen to poets.

He told CNN the training for his legion lasts for about six weeks and includes basic knowledge, simulator practice and topography lessons. Andriy asked for his last name not to be published for security reasons.

“A person must understand how to operate an aircraft. Drones are becoming increasingly complex – this is aviation, and it requires constant attention, knowledge, and skills,” he said.

Harward, the ISW analyst, said that there are reports that Russia is now making about 5,100 long-range strike drones per month, with plans to increase this to 5,700.

“Russia will be able to keep up these large strike packages as long as it can maintain – or increase – these high production rates,” she said, adding that this is largely dependent on Moscow’s ability to keep sourcing components from China.

“Russia would not be able to sustain this new higher production pace without these Chinese components,” Harward said.

The US Treasury Department has said that Chinese companies have been supplying Russia with so-called dual-use technologies, or components that can be used for both civilian and military purposes, such as chips or telecommunication equipment that Russia cannot get elsewhere because of Western sanctions.

And Adm. Samuel Paparo, who currently leads the US Indo Pacific Command, said in April this year that “China has provided 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the legacy chips that have enabled Russia to rebuild its war machine.”

In 5-year-old Tim Hryshchuk’s new school, the shelters have been converted into makeshift classrooms, so that time spent underground won’t be wasted. It can be a tight squeeze, with students sharing desks and a portable blackboard propped against a pipe on the wall.

Every student is required to have a well-stocked grab bag filled with water and snacks, as well as stickers with phone numbers and other vital information.

That came in handy when Tim’s class had to spend more than three hours in the shelter on his second day.

“I was just sitting, waiting, eating some snacks from my grab bag and playing games,” he told CNN, admitting that he did get a bit bored waiting. – CNN