As a Result of a Ballistic Strike on the Kyiv Printing House "Convi Print", Nearly One Million Ukrainian Books Were Destroyed

Viktor Kruglov, General Director of the Kharkiv-based publishing house "Ranok," reported the large-scale consequences of the enemy strike on Facebook.

As a result of direct hits by missile debris and the blast wave, the large production workshops of the Kyiv facility were left without roofs and walls, while office premises burned to the ground. A significant portion of the printing, bookbinding, and specialized equipment was destroyed or drenched with water during firefighting operations. Fortunately, none of the printing house employees were injured.

"600,000 destroyed books all at once! It is hard for me to imagine such a loss... 250,000 textbooks for the 9th grade, ready to be sent to schools, were completely destroyed. Also damaged are about 350,000 books, including textbooks for the 4th grade and books from leading Ukrainian publishing houses," Kruglov noted.

Among the publishing houses whose print runs were damaged in the Kyiv printing complex are "Ranok," "Hramota," "Litera LTD," "Linguist," "knigolove," "Laboratoria," "Artbooks," "ASSA," "Kalamar," "Atena," "Aston," "Bookchef," MISON, "Vyshcha Shkola," "Medytsyna," "Apriori," and others.

According to the publisher, taking into account the books of the "knigolove" publishing house that burned down at another warehouse during the same attack, the total losses to the book market in just one night reached nearly 1 million copies.

"You can buy anything abroad: clothes, food, fuel. You cannot buy Ukrainian books. 1 million books in one night! This is painful not only for our publishing house. This is a blow to the entire industry and Ukrainian culture," emphasized Viktor Kruglov.

The destruction of the Kyiv printing house "Convi Print" is another episode in the targeted destruction of Ukraine's printing infrastructure by Russian occupiers.

As a reminder, the enemy has previously repeatedly carried out strikes on publishing and printing facilities in Kharkiv, which is the main printing hub of the country. In particular, on May 23, 2024, a Russian missile struck one of the largest printing complexes in Europe — the Kharkiv printing house "Factor-Druk" (where books from "Vivat," "KSD," and many other publishers were printed). At that time, 7 employees were killed, more than 20 were injured, and over 50,000 books burned in the fire.

Systematic strikes on printing facilities in Kyiv and Kharkiv prove once again that Russia is waging a targeted war against Ukrainian education, culture, and identity, attempting to disrupt the educational process in schools and destroy the Ukrainian book market.