Russia hits another Ukrainian publisher warehouse as attacks on book industry mount
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A Russian drone struck a warehouse belonging to the Ukrainian publishing house Ranok in Kharkiv on Aug. 1, setting fire to thousands of books stored inside, the company reported.
The strike sparked a fire at the publishing house’s warehouse, covering around 10,000 square meters (108,000 square feet), Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram. One man was reportedly injured in the attack.
A female employee of the publishing house who was initially unreachable later answered her phone and was confirmed to be alive and unharmed, Syniehubov said in an update at around 2 p.m.
The strike is the latest example of a growing trend of Russian attacks on Ukraine's book industry. In July alone, Russian strikes destroyed more than 1.5 million Ukrainian books, according to the Ukrainian Book Institute.
The warehouse was also used by KnyhoLand, one of Ukraine’s largest bookstore chains, to store books and process customer orders.
"Everything is on fire," Ihor Zarudko, a KnyhoLand representative, wrote on Facebook.
The company temporarily suspended online orders following the attack, but its physical bookstores continued to operate as usual.
"We need your support, and I invite you to visit our bookstores for books," Zarudko said.
On July 19, a Russian attack on Kyiv overnight destroyed nearly 250,000 books belonging to the Ukrainian publisher Knyholove.
Earlier that month, a Russian strike on Kyiv on July 2 destroyed around 800,000 books stored by the publishing house BookChef — the largest single loss suffered by Ukraine's book industry that month.
