Up to 15 million new Ukrainian books have been destroyed in Russian strikes in recent months, The New York Times reports. The Ukrainian Publishers Association estimates that close to half of the country's annual book production has been lost.
One of the worst strikes hit a warehouse of the “Ranok“ publishing house in Kharkiv. Two Russian jet drones caused a fire that took almost a week to put out. The flames consumed all 8 million books stored in the warehouse, including 620,000 textbooks.
Rare editions also destroyed
A Russian ballistic missile hit a significant part of the Pochaina book market in Kiev. Not only new titles were stored there, but also rare pre-revolutionary and Soviet editions.
Other strikes damaged warehouses of Ukrainian publishers and the Konvi printing house, considered one of the largest in the country. Thus, the attacks simultaneously affected stocks of finished books, production facilities and their distribution.
Damage is estimated at nearly $40 million
The Ukrainian Publishers Association estimates the number of new books destroyed at up to 15 million. The Ministry of Culture estimates the damage to the book publishing sector at almost $40 million. The difference between these figures reflects not only the value of the burned copies, but also the damage to warehouses, printing houses and other infrastructure.
Despite the scale of the losses, there is no mass shortage of books yet. However, the consequences are already being felt in education: some Ukrainian students have started the school year without the necessary textbooks. The destruction of copies immediately before the start of classes makes it difficult to quickly reprint and deliver them to schools.
Sources: UNIAN, New York Times