In the before times, there were caps and gowns and canapés, but Mariupol State University could offer only a pared-down ceremony on Thursday for the class of 2023 on its campus in exile almost 400 miles from its ravaged home city.
Of the 500 graduates, only about 60 attended here in Kyiv to collect their diplomas in person at a new university home that is a work in progress.
The rest took part online if they could, scattered by war around Ukraine and abroad.
It was a bittersweet moment for the graduates of Mariupol, a city that became synonymous with the war’s brutality and devastation before falling to the Russian invasion last year.
Valeriya Tkachenko, 21, continued her studies in ecology and education, even as her husband, Vladislav, underwent treatment and rehabilitation after losing a leg in the battle for Azovstal, the sprawling steelworks where Mariupol’s defenders made their last stand before surrendering in May 2022.
Persons:
Valeriya Tkachenko, Vladislav
Organizations:
Mariupol State, Mariupol, Azovstal
Locations:
Kyiv, Ukraine