Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine’s book infrastructure — publishing house offices, bookstores, printing facilities, and warehouses.

In just two month, Ukraine’s publishing industry lost a significant part of its capacity and around 10 million copies of books.

Following the destruction of the Konvi printing facility on 19 July, finished print runs and book materials belonging to the publishers Ranok, Hramota, Litera LTD, Linguist, Knyholav, Laboratoria, Artbooks, ASSA, Kalamár, Atena, Aston, BookChef, MISON, Vyshcha Shkola, Medytsyna, Apriori, Old Lion Publishing House, and Urbino were lost. That same night, a Russian strike hit the Knyholav publishing house’s warehouse, destroying 250,000 books.

On 1 August, a Russian attack on the warehouses of the RNK-Ranok publishing corporation in Kharkiv destroyed an amount of book production equivalent to approximately 30% of the industry’s annual output. School textbooks for primary and secondary education were destroyed, along with books from numerous publishers that were stored at the KnyhoLand warehouse.

Some publishers have been targeted repeatedly. On 2 July, a Russian strike destroyed BookChef’s main warehouse, which held around 800,000 books. On 5 August, another attack destroyed more than 100,000 additional books at the publisher’s reserve warehouse.

For some publishers, the consequences of these attacks may be critical, with some companies already facing the risk of financial collapse.

How to support the Ukrainian publishing industry:

• Cease cooperation with Russian entities;
• Raise awareness about Russian crimes against Ukraine, particularly those targeting our cultural heritage;
• Support Ukrainian Publishers;
• Cooperate with Ukrainian Publishers;
• Donate to medical charities supporting those affected by the Russian war in Ukraine;
• Donate to the Ukrainian army.