Ukraine's Kharkiv moves classrooms underground so kids survive Russian attacks

Maksym Timchenko, 7, (center) raises his hand while his teacher, Liudmyla Demchenko, addresses the classroom in the school inside a subway station in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Claire Harbage/NPR)

KHARKIV, Ukraine — For 7-year-old Maksym Timchenko, school often feels like the safest place in his hometown, Ukraine's second-largest city.

"It's under the street," he says, in a classroom built into a subway station some 32 feet below ground. "You can't hear bad noises here," he adds, then mimics the sound of an explosion.