The Ukrainian Book Institute has called on the international publishing community to support Ukrainian publishers after Russian attacks in July and early August destroyed approximately 10 million books and a significant portion of the country's book production capacity. The institute noted that attacks on publishing, printing and storage infrastructure have left some companies at risk of financial collapse.
A major attack on 1 August hit warehouses of the RNK-Ranok publishing group in Kharkiv, destroying approximately 8 million books, following July attacks in Kyiv that resulted in the loss of more than 1.5 million books. The country faces the risk of "complete collapse of the entire book ecosystem", Ukrainian publishers said.
In total, the recent attacks have caused the destruction of approximately 30% of the volume of books produced annually in Ukraine.
