UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Aug. 28 — Russian attacks on Ukraine burned down over 10 million books, said Tetiana Berezhna, Ukraine’s culture minister, on a press conference at the Literature Fair in the city.
Russian attacks damaged or destroyed 21 buildings belonging to Ukrainian book publishers — warehouses, workshops, etc., she added. The attacks caused nearly 1.2 billion hryvnias in losses to the publishing industry.
“Russia purposefully attacks our culture, our book, trying to erase our identity,” Berezhna said.
Previously, Berezhna said that Ukraine, along with international partners, will launch a fund to support small publishers affected by the Russian strikes on the book industry.
On Aug. 28, a Russian attack on a warehouse on the premises of Nova Poshta postal company in Sviatopetrivsk of Kyiv oblast burned down books worth 16 million hryvnias, just from the Kharkiv publishing house Vivat.
Before that, on Aug. 1, a Russian strike hit a Kharkiv publishing house, Ranok, burning down eight million books and copies. Its director said it will take the Ranok publishing house three to five years to fully recover after the attack.
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Read more
- Ranok publishing house needs up to 5 years to recover after the Russian attack on its storage building in Kharkiv
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