Ukrainian professor Fedir Sandor went viral this week after a photo on social media showed him teaching remotely while in a combat suit with a rifle hanging from his shoulder.
“We are fighting for an educated nation. If I didn’t give lectures, it would be a sin, “Sandor said in a statement at Uzhgorod National University, where he teaches tourism and hospitality lessons.
The photo, taken by colleague Viktor Shchaedi, shows the professor instructing students through a video chat from inside a trench protected by sandbags.
With his helmet and AK-103 rifle on the side, he holds his phone in a bandaged hand, and with the other he holds an open notebook, the photo shows.
“I’ve been in the army for 70 days,” Sandor said, adding that he enlisted shortly after the Russian invasion began in February.
During that time, he said, he taught at 8 a.m. every Monday and Tuesday.
Ukrainian soldiers stand on an armored personnel carrier near the front line. ANATOLIY STEPANOV / AFP via Getty Images
“I haven’t missed a single one,” he said.
“I always prefer the morning hours: I read and then you have time for other work,” he added.
The university did not provide his exact location, but said Sandor was fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The eastern industrial region, known as Donbass, has hosted most of the fighting since Russia’s withdrawal from the outskirts of Kyiv in March.
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