Russia's overnight attack destroys around 800,000 Ukrainian books
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The latest Russian attack on Kyiv overnight on July 2 destroyed around 800,000 books in BookChef's inventory, the Ukrainian publishing house reported.
Seventy-four missiles and 496 long-range drones were launched by Russia, most of which targeted Kyiv. At least 21 people have been killed and 90 injured in Ukraine's capital, with the casualty numbers likely to rise as rescue operations continue.
According to BookChef, the central warehouse of their logistics partner — where their books were stored — was completely destroyed. However, there are no casualties reported among warehouse employees.
"That is what we are holding on to right now," the publishing house wrote.
The publishing house is just the latest business to face a major setback because of damages inflicted by Russian attacks.
Ukraine's publishing industry previously overcame a major setback in 2024 when a Russian attack on Kharkiv, where nearly 80% of books in Ukraine are published, destroyed over 50,000 books in the Faktor Druk printing house.
BookChef publishing house describes itself as "modern Ukrainian publishing house of global bestsellers." It specializes in books on self-development, motivational literature, young adult fiction, and fantasy.
"These are books that authors, translators, editors, illustrators, designers, printers, managers, and logistics teams worked on. This represents years of work by a great number of people," BookChef said, underscoring the loss inlifcted by the attack.
Even though the publishing house is putting all promotions with partner stores on hold until reprints catch up — and has warned about possible delays with new book releases — they have vowed to continue their work.
"The best support and help you can give us right now is simple: buy our books. Every order is a real contribution toward restoring our inventory and ensuring that Ukrainian books continue to be published, no matter what. Our online store is operating as usual," they wrote.
