Russian drone hits warehouse storing books from Readeat, Book.ua and Ukrainian publishers

A Russian drone struck a warehouse in Kyiv on 27 August, where books belonging to the Readeat and Book.ua bookshops and a number of Ukrainian publishing houses were stored. Some of the print runs were destroyed in the fire.

Source: Dmytro Feliksov, founder of Readeat

Details: Due to the damage to the warehouse, orders will not be dispatched from there on 28 August. Ukrainian publishers that stored part of their print runs there also reported losing books.

The Ouroboros publishing house said that its books stored in warehouses operated by Readeat and Book.ua partners were likely destroyed.

Osnovy also reported losses. The publisher said it was currently awaiting official information about the extent of the damage and possible losses. Meanwhile, their orders continue to be dispatched from a backup warehouse in another region.

Yuliia Orlova, CEO of Vivat, also reported that the Kyiv warehouse where the publisher's books were stored was destroyed by fire as a result of the attack. According to Orlova, the exact scale of the losses is still being assessed.

"We lost in this lottery of where the strike would land tonight. So today, the Kyiv warehouse where Vivat's books were stored burned down," Orlova wrote.

She noted that the publisher had previously begun moving some print runs to other regions. Some books were transported to Lviv and distributed among bookshops.

Nonetheless, many new releases and books by Ukrainian authors remained in the Kyiv warehouses. The publisher had been preparing for the Book Country festival, so Vivat's participation in the event is now also in question.

"We are still counting the losses because these are essentially books destroyed by fire in three warehouses: ours and our partners'," Orlova said.

Two publishers – KSD and KnyhoLand – cancelled their participation in this autumn's Book Country festival, which will take place from 17 to 20 September.

KSD said that, in addition to its book stalls, it would not hold the planned events with authors and readers. The decision to cancel was prompted by the security situation in the capital.

Two weeks ago, KnyhoLand also announced that it was cancelling its participation. The company said it could not take part because it had lost a large number of books as a result of Russian attacks.

Background:

• On 1 August, the warehouses of the Ranok publishing house in Kharkiv were destroyed. As a result, the following publishers were also affected: Readberry, Zhorzh, Fabula, Shche Odna Storinka, Varvar Publishing, Osnova, Svoie, Korali Books, Kenhuru and 4mamas, as well as the KnyhoLand bookshop chain. Nearly 8 million copies of books – 28,800 titles – were destroyed.
• As a result of the Russian attack on Kyiv on 16 August, the publishers RM and BookChef at the Pochaina book market were also affected.
• Overall, Russia destroyed around 13 million books in summer 2026.

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