Russian attacks have destroyed nearly 1.2 million school textbooks in Ukraine

Dariia Markova - 10 August, 20:03

Books that had already been prepared for dispatch were among those destroyed. Photo: Tetiana Berezhna/Facebook

Large-scale Russian attacks on Ukrainian printing companies and logistics warehouses have destroyed nearly 1.2 million school textbooks. The biggest losses have affected textbook print runs for students in Years 4 and 9 (aged approximately 9-10 and 14-15 respectively).

Source: Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament), citing Serhii Babak, Chairman of the Committee on Education, Science and Innovation

Details: Babak said a total of 1,166,874 copies have been destroyed, accounting for 8.6% of the total number of textbooks printed for the 2026-2027 academic year.

The biggest losses were among books for Year 9: more than 850,000 copies were destroyed, equivalent to 9.5% of the print run. More than 271,000 copies for Year 4 were lost, accounting for 7% of the print run. Almost 45,000 textbooks for pupils in Years 6 and 7 were also destroyed, representing 6% of their print run.

The books destroyed in the attacks had been prepared for dispatch. Some print runs were also still being produced at the time of the attacks.

Significant losses were incurred by some Ukrainian publishers – Ranok, Hramota, Lingvist, Akademiia, Osvita, Litera, Aston and Shkoliar.

The committee has now identified which textbooks need to be reprinted as a priority. The government is looking for additional printing capacity to ensure that Ukrainian schoolchildren receive all the books they need by 1 September, when the new school year begins in Ukraine.

The authorities have also decided to improve logistics and establish safer storage facilities for new print runs.

"There are two equally important goals for us today. The first is to do everything possible to ensure that Ukrainian schoolchildren receive the textbooks they need by 1 September. The second is not to leave Ukrainian publishers to deal with the aftermath of Russian strikes on their own. This is only the beginning of our joint work," Babak said.

Background:

In early July, Russian missiles struck the central warehouse of the BookChefpublishing house's logistics partner, destroying around 800,000 books.
A partner printing house of the publishers Ranok was also affected. A Russian strike damaged a warehouse belonging to the Nash Format publisher and online store.
During a strike on Kyiv on 19 July, Russian forces destroyed a warehouse belonging to the knigolove publishing house where 250,000 books were stored.
The premises of the Mison publishing house's editorial office were completely burned down in the same attack. The Konvi printing and polygraphy company, which produces materials for Ranok, Laboratoriia, ArtBooks, BookChef and many other publishers, was also affected.
Overall, Russian attacks destroyed more than 1.5 million copies of Ukrainian books in July alone. Tetiana Berezhna, Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture, said publishers have lost hundreds of millions of hryvnias due to relentless Russian attacks.

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