Learning under fire: How smart shelter can protect and educate students in Ukraine

The Russians’ full-scale invasion has reshaped every sphere of Ukrainian life, and education is no exception. Now, numerous disruptions — missile alerts, sudden power cuts, and relocations to makeshift shelters — regularly interrupt the normal study process. 

Responding to wartime realities, a charitable initiative is turning university bomb shelters into modern smart shelters that keep classes running during air raids and blackouts. The project is called CLUST SPACE.

Most Ukrainian universities faced a similar problem: their shelters weren’t adapted to the threats of modern warfare. According to the Cabinet of Ministers, the number of shelters throughout the country is about 62,000, which can protect less than half of the population. Most of them are cold, unrenovated Soviet-era basements that lack basic amenities such as desks, Wi-Fi, and even reliable lighting. As a result, students retain less and experience more stress and anxiety.

CLUST SPACE embraced this challenge by turning those places into fully networked smart shelters. Each retrofit weaves together power back-ups, filtered ventilation, ergonomic furniture, and modular zones for lectures, group projects, quiet study, or resting time. By embedding modern infrastructure beneath university grounds, the initiative proves that education can persist — and even thrive — amid wartime uncertainty.

A cross-functional team has worked for 3 years to bring the CLUST SPACE concept to life. Guided by principles of functionality, energy efficiency, and multi-layered security, it reimagines neglected university basements as self-contained learning ecosystems. Every element of the smart shelter is calibrated to sustain focus and protect against both shelling and chemical threats. The team’s design has just won a Red Dot Award, proving that wartime resilience and thoughtful aesthetics can coexist.

Despite certification by the State Emergency Service, students avoided the basements because conditions were inadequate. Then, the team rebuilt them around a human-centered design, adding modular classrooms, collaboration zones, sound-insulated video-call pods, quiet study areas, and sports corners. The impact is clear: CLUST SPACE KYIV welcomed nearly 73,000 visitors and hosted over 185 events in its first year, and in the first 2 months, CLUST SPACE DNIPRO saw more than 1,200 visitors and 46 events.

Behind this effort stands Ukrainian entrepreneur Ruslan Tymofieiev, founder of the venture builder CLUST. He launched CLUST SPACE as CLUST’s CSR project, investing capital and strategic oversight to support the education. Ruslan Tymofieiev builds strategic partnerships and raises capital to advance a main goal: converting wartime hardship into uninterrupted, secure learning for students.

Freedom Holding Corp. became a key partner for the first two CLUST SPACE shelters — at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and Oles Honchar Dnipro National University. Company staff sit on the implementation task force alongside CLUST engineers and architects, tracking budgets, construction milestones, and post-launch usage data. The next smart shelter in the pipeline is Odesa National University, where Freedom Holding Corp. will also act as the main donor.

Timur Turlov, CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., frames this hands-on approach as nation-building rather than just charity. He argues that a nation’s future depends on quality education, and emphasized that protecting study spaces during the war preserves Ukraine’s intellectual capital, which will rebuild the country tomorrow.

CLUST SPACE aligns with Freedom Holding Corp.’s strategy of funding projects that deliver both social benefit and long-term economic resilience. The partnership signals a broader shift in corporate engagement: modern companies can’t remain spectators when a nation’s survival hangs in the balance.

This article was written in cooperation with Anastasiia Voitkevych, Head of CSR in CLUST