Ukrainian professor Fedir Shandor went viral this week, after a photo on social media showed him teaching remotely while in full battle dress with a rifle slung from his shoulder.
“We are fighting for an educated nation. If I did not give lectures, it would be a sin,” Shandor said in a statement issued by Uzhhorod National University, where he teaches classes in tourism and hospitality.
The photo — taken by fellow soldier Viktor Shchaedi — shows the professor instructing students via video chat from inside a trench protected by sandbags.
With his helmet on and an AK-103 rifle at his side, he holds his phone in a bandaged hand, holding a notebook open with his other, the photo shows.
“I have been in the army for 70 days,” Shandor said, adding he enlisted soon after the Russian invasion began in February.
In that time, he said, he’s held classes at 8 a.m. every Monday and Tuesday.
“I did not miss a single one,” he said.
“I always prefer morning classes: I read, and then you have time for another job,” he added.
The university did not provide his exact deployment, but said that Shandor is fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The eastern industrial region, known as the Donbas, has been host to the bulk of the fighting since Russia’s retreat from the outskirts of Kyiv in March.