UKRAINE, July 2 — The Vivat and Ranok printing houses handed over books damaged by a Russian missile attack on the Factor-Druk printing house in Kharkiv to the Ukrainian Institute in Sweden, according to the Ukrainian Institute in Sweden’s website.

On May 23, the Russians destroyed the Kharkiv printing house Factor-Drunk, one of the largest printing houses in Europe. Seven employees were killed in a missile strike, and 21 people were injured. The Russian attack burned 50,000 books by Ukrainian and foreign authors. 

The head of the Ukrainian Institute in Sweden, Nataliia Pasichnyk, asked Kharkiv printing houses to hand over the burnt books. Initiative plans to arrange an exhibition in Stockholm as proof of the Russian war crime against Ukrainian culture.

“Russia is killing Ukrainian writers. Dozens of them have already died because of the war. The attacker is denying Ukraine its right to have its language and literature. This is not the first time that Ukrainian printing houses have been attacked. The world must know and see these crimes. We asked the publishers in Kharkiv to give us the burned books to display them here in Sweden as material evidence of a war crime against the future of Ukraine”, said Nataliia Pasichnyk.

Ranok handed over six burnt copies of German textbooks for school students. The publisher also provided another book from the previous edition, which survived the Russian attack on Ranok’s warehouse in 2022. The textbook had been sewn together with a fragment of a rocket. The wreckage of the missile will also become a part of the exhibit.

Vivat printing house also joined the initiative and handed over several other burned books.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced that the U.S. government will provide Ukrainian elementary school students with up to 3.2 million copies of textbooks as the Russian army destroyed the Kharkiv printing house.

All textbooks for Ukrainian elementary school students will be printed by the beginning of the new school year. These textbooks will be produced in Ukraine and delivered to more than 12,000 schools across the country.

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