Millions of books were destroyed as a result of Russia's attack on Kharkiv: "Ranok" reported preliminary losses

In Kharkiv, according to preliminary estimates, around 8 million books were destroyed, among which were school textbooks. This was reported by Viktor Kruglov, general director of the "Ranok" publishing house.

The books were stored in the automated logistics center of the "RNK-Ranok" corporation and the distribution center of the "KnyhoLand" chain, which were damaged as a result of a Russian attack on Kharkiv on August 1. The loss assessment is still preliminary and may be clarified after the calculations are completed.

The scale of the destroyed stocks can be compared with the pre-war annual output of a large publishing house. Before the full-scale invasion, "Ranok" released approximately 7-8 million books per year.

The new estimate is also several times higher than the total losses of the book industry from Russian attacks in July. The Ministry of Culture previously reported the destruction of over 1.5 million books and textbooks of various Ukrainian publishing houses during the month.

The financial value of the destroyed books and the potential impact of losses on the supply of textbooks and bookshop assortments have not yet been disclosed.