Iryna Dubas,53, ex-director of Secondary School No.3 in Nova Kakhovka, a city in southern Ukraine, who had been detained by Russian forces, said she hopes the war will be over soon so she can return to school to meet her students again.
"I want to tell the children and parents in Nova Kakhovka that I will go back to our school. We are waiting for that moment [when the war is over]. As soon as it is liberated, I will go the next day,'' Ms Dubas said.
Ms Dubas was taken by Russian forces to Nova Kakhovka police station and detained for five days after their attack on the city began on Feb 24, 2022.
''A lot of people refuse to abide by the demands of the Russian forces. The Russian government wants to find teachers but no Ukrainian teachers want to work for them. The schools in Nova Kakhovka are still empty now,'' she said.
Ms Dubas recalls with dismay and fury the day the Russian forces began their offensive and she fled to hide in her house about 30km from central Nova Kakhovka.
She thought that hiding there would be safer than taking shelter somewhere in town. Nevertheless, Russian soldiers aided by Ukrainian defectors still found her.
''They came to the house and searched it. I was living there with three people and some disabled folk. A Russian representative asked, 'Who is the teacher here?' and they found me and forced me to go with them,'' Ms Dubas said.
They did not allow her to tell her family first.
''I was taken to Nova Kakhovka station where I was held captive and interrogated for five days by one man. His name was Umar.
"I had no choice but to cooperate. They asked me to switch sides to tell Ukrainian children and parents that we should be part of Russia. They also asked me to sign an agreement to work for them but I refused,'' she said.
Ms Dubas said the soldiers went to her school to take away all the Ukrainian national symbols and recruit its teachers to work for Russia. Eventually, she was released unhurt.
''I came out and told teachers and their parents that we must not work for Russia but instead put our effort into a Ukrainian victory. They believed in me. That's why our school is not cooperating with Russia. I think this is my achievement,'' she said.
She said no students or teachers from her school had been injured.
Ms Dubas said she has been a director at the school, which is the best in the region and ranked in the top 100 nationally, for 20 years.
''They [the soldiers] knew well that If I had switched sides, many teachers and directors of other schools would have followed suit,'' she said.
Ms Dubas said she believed the education system is the core of any society and that's why Russia wants Ukrainian teachers to switch sides to work for them.
Ms Dubas was speaking to this Bangkok Post reporter who was among a group of seven journalists from Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, and Mongolia invited to Ukraine to talk to those affected by Russia's invasion.
The trip was organised by the Ukrainian NGO Public Interest Journalism Lab, which advocates public interest journalism.
An online school opens
Ms Dubas recalled how she then travelled from Nova Kakhovka to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Four teachers from her school have been unable to leave the Russian-occupied city due to ill health.
Ms Dubas arrived in Kyiv on Aug 28, 2022 and later decided to start an online school. She said she is proud because she has managed to keep this school open.
Currently there are 34 teachers, 70% former colleagues from Nova Kakhovka, who are now staying in different parts of Ukraine.
The rest are new. Some teach from European countries. There are about 600 students enrolled for the online classes. The Ukrainian government which mainly funds this online school, she said.
"We have no physical buildings, so it more difficult to receive funding from foundations, charities and other governments,'' she said.
Ms Dubas said teachers worldwide should unite in calls for Russia to leave Ukraine.
''You cannot invade another country or attack another country like this,'' she added.
About Nova Kakhovka
Nova Kakhovka is a city in Kakhovka Raion, Kherson Oblast, southern Ukraine, and has been under Russian occupation since the Feb 24 invasion began.
Nova Kakhovka is a key port city on the east bank of the Dnieper River, located about 500 kilometres away from the capital, Kyiv.
It is close to Crimea, and also the city where the Kakhovka dam was blown up in the early hours of June 6, 2023 causing extensive flooding along the lower Dnieper River.
The dam was under the control of the Russian military, which seized it in the early days of the invasion. Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for the attack which escalated tensions between the countries.
"I was in Kyiv when the dam was destroyed but I followed the news reports. Most houses and buildings were flooded. Many people have been badly affected by the floods,'' Ms Dubas said.