Russian strikes have destroyed 12 million books and damaged publishing houses and cultural heritage sites across Ukraine, with the attacks coming as the country prepares for a new school year.
At a printing plant on the outskirts of Kyiv, Viktoria Haidai surveys the mangled remains of machinery that should be producing textbooks for pupils returning to school.
The facility was hit overnight by a Russian missile just as production was increasing to deliver 1.3 million books, representing about 10 per cent of Ukraine’s schoolbooks.
Among the ashes is a charred page from an English-language textbook bearing the words: “My name is William, I’m from the UK. My grandmother lives in Nottingham. It’s a beautiful city.”
Russia has targeted printing presses and publishing houses across Ukraine in a series of recent attacks, destroying 12 million books and damaging other symbols of Ukrainian history and culture.
Local media reports indicate that Russia has destroyed one-third of all books printed in Ukraine this year.
Nothing is salvageable at the Kyiv printing plant. Even pages that survive the flames are ruined by water from firefighting efforts or exposure to the elements after the roof collapses.
“I believe it is deliberate on the part of the Russian Federation,” says Haidai, commercial director of the Konvi publishing firm. “Over the past two months, some of the largest publishing houses have lost their logistics warehouses, where very large quantities of books were stored.
“The Russians are also destroying printing houses in an attempt to erase Ukraine as a nation. But frankly they will not succeed.”
More than 35 publishing facilities have been hit in recent weeks.
The attacks also extend beyond newly printed books. Kyiv’s Pochaina second-hand book market has been struck, destroying hundreds of individual stalls and countless treasured books.
Before firefighters finish extinguishing the blaze, 28-year-old book blogger Liliya Velyka searches through the smouldering ruins for anything that can be saved.
She clutches a waterlogged copy of a science-fiction novel.
“Books are saving us and losing this is like losing our hearts,” she says.
Museums, art galleries, film studios, libraries and opera houses have also sustained damage.
At Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the capital’s large medieval monastery and cultural heritage site, the golden domes of the Dormition Cathedral have been hit.
Religious artefacts are moved to safety, but a large section of the roof is set ablaze following a drone attack.
Repairs are estimated to cost $11.2 million (£8.2 million) and take two years.
The site is also home to Ukraine’s museum of books and printing. UNESCO lists the complex as a World Heritage Site, having added it to its register of World Heritage Sites in Danger in September 2023.
At recent celebrations marking 975 years since the monastery’s founding, UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany says he is “deeply saddened” by “the significant damage”.
“Unesco firmly condemns all attacks against cultural property protected under international law,” he tells gathered dignitaries, including President Volodymyr Zelensky.
El-Enany tours the cathedral with Ukraine’s Minister of Culture, Tetyana Berezhna, who says the cultural and military impacts of Russia’s war cannot be separated.
“This is an existential war, so Russia wants to destroy us as a nation, to erase us as a nation, like Ukrainians do not exist and have never existed. That’s why Russia targets our cultural heritage, the symbols of our presence here for a long time.
“They understand that it’s very important for us because we protect our identity, we protect our culture, and Russia wants to ruin everything that it cannot appropriate.”
Berezhna says Russia has attacked more than 1,900 pieces of Ukrainian heritage and over 2,000 cultural institutions.
Digitisation is part of efforts to protect art and literature and ensure children can continue learning despite the destruction of physical books.
There are growing warnings that Ukraine’s entire publishing sector is under threat and requires international support to remain viable.
At the bombed Kyiv printing plant, Haidai says protecting the industry is essential to preserving Ukrainian literature.
“The word is everything. It is our development, our culture, and our historical heritage that is passed down from generation to generation.”
In a 2021 essay titled On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians, Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that Ukrainians and Russians are one people and questions the legitimacy of an independent Ukrainian state and culture.
In a statement to the BBC, the Russian Embassy in the UK blames Ukraine’s government for damage to its cultural heritage, saying monuments have been dismantled and streets renamed. It also claims cultural sites have been used to conceal military facilities.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians throughout its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, despite repeated missile and drone attacks that have struck residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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