Russian strikes destroy Ukrainian publishing warehouse facilities, millions of books and textbooks reduced to ashes

On-the-ground reporting by France 24 journalists Yegor Tretsky and Emmanuel Schatz turns the lens onto a dimension of the Russia-Ukraine war often obscured by frontline casualty statistics—the systematic destruction suffered by the publishing industry.

According to the report, Russian attacks on Ukraine this summer severely impacted the country's publishing industry, destroying dozens of warehouses and logistics centers and causing millions of books and textbooks to be reduced to ashes in the flames. The report notes that for many Ukrainians, these strikes against publishing infrastructure are part of efforts to erase their language and cultural identity—what publications carry is far more than paper and ink, but rather the material foundation of a nation's educational system, historical narrative, and collective memory.

When warehousing and logistics nodes are destroyed, reprinted textbooks struggle to reach schools on time, and newly printed literary works find it difficult to enter circulation channels.