Russia destroyed a printing house that was to produce 1.3 million textbooks
Russian strikes on Ukrainian printing houses, publishers and book warehouses destroyed millions of books ahead of the new school year. Among the hardest-hit enterprises is the printing house of the "Konvi" group near Kyiv, which was to produce about 1.3 million school textbooks.
BBC and UPI report on the scale of losses in the book industry. The "Konvi" printing house was destroyed by a Russian missile strike on the night of July 19. The facility was just increasing production for the start of the school year and was to provide about 10% of the required volume of school books in Ukraine.
As a result of the strike, production workshops were left without a roof, printing and binding equipment was destroyed or flooded with water, and office premises burned down. During the attack, about 250 thousand already printed textbooks for ninth grades were completely destroyed, and approximately 350 thousand book blanks were damaged.
Commercial director of the "Konvi" group Viktoriia Haidai told BBC that virtually nothing at the plant could be saved: even books and materials that did not burn suffered water damage from firefighting and the destroyed roof. She links the strikes on printing houses and publishing logistics to Russia's attempts to harm Ukrainian culture.
Millions of books destroyed over several months
The strike on "Konvi" was just one in a series of Russian attacks on book infrastructure. According to BBC estimates, recent strikes destroyed about 12 million books in Ukraine, and more than 35 publishing industry facilities were attacked. UPI, citing the Ukrainian Publishers Association, gives an even higher estimate — at least 13 million copies in the last three months.
One of the biggest losses was the automated logistics center of the "Ranok" publishing corporation in Kharkiv, attacked on August 1. According to UPI data, about 8 million books were destroyed there, including about 600 thousand school textbooks for the new school year.
Another about 800 thousand books of the BookChef publishing house were lost after the destruction of its logistics partner's central warehouse on July 2.
At the end of August another book warehouse came under attack
As previously reported by "Kurs Ukrainy", on the night of August 28 a Russian "Shahed" destroyed a warehouse in Sviatopetrivske near Kyiv, where books of Ukrainian publishers and bookstores were stored, including Vivat, "Osnovy", Readeat and Book.ua.
According to UPI, more than 60 thousand books were lost as a result of that attack. Thus, the strikes affect not only printing capacities but also logistics centers where printed editions are stored.
Due to the destruction of printing houses and warehouses, problems also arose with the supply of schools. The Ministry of Education previously reported that some students in fourth and ninth grades will receive paper textbooks with a delay of about two months.
