For those who remember that black day in September 2024 for KhAI, after these words, it would be possible to write nothing more.
Then the half-ton KAB exploded a few meters from the Main Building.
These photos were taken a few minutes after the impact.
At that time, we did not yet know that our colleagues were injured by glass fragments.
We could not imagine the horror that was happening in the damaged offices and classrooms.
It was then that I first heard the phrase: "A blow to the heart of KhAI."
At that time, it seemed to me that it was only about administrative offices. But you have to live in KhAI. Feel KhAI. Only then do you understand what these words were about.
That day, I saw a person in the shattered window of classroom 307. Our teacher. I saw tears.
A year later, in the book “Chronicles of the Wartime KhAI”, we wrote: “The 307th auditorium of the Main Building. If KhAI has a soul, it is here. There is no generation of students who would not have passed through the legendary 307th. The walls of this auditorium witnessed all the main events in the history of the university. Important decisions were made here, and the number of outstanding people who spoke from this rostrum is a topic for a separate book. How many times during its almost century-long history the auditorium was destroyed, the same number of times the KhAI community made every effort to restore it. The 307th was always like a flag that, even after a devastating blow, rose again over KhAI, symbolizing to everyone: KhAI lives. Khai did not give up. KhAI keeps its wings.”
And today we can say: We made the 307th.
With our own strength.
From bomb-damaged desks and broken windows to a bright, restored auditorium, ready to welcome students again.
These photos show the enormous work of dozens of people. Here you can see how it was. And how it became.
Thank you to everyone who worked. Who helped. Who supported. Who didn't give up.
Thank you to our friends, partners, graduates, university employees - everyone.
Today I went back to room 307.
And the first thing I looked at was the ceiling.
I remember September 2 well. Then a soft bell rang in the empty, destroyed auditorium. It was the wind, walking through the shattered windows, swaying the glass shades. For some reason, that sound has been remembered forever.
Today, these shades are under a white ceiling.
In the rays of the summer sun.
And, perhaps, it was at this moment that I truly felt that the 307th had returned.
Because you can break glass.
You can destroy walls.
But you can't destroy people who are rebuilding their university again and again.
KhAI lives.
KhAI does not give up.
KhAI keeps its wings.
KhAI Rector Oleksii LYTVYNOV
