Russia has been waging a parallel war against civilians since the beginning of its aggression, alongside its military operations on the battlefield - targeting critical infrastructure, with the situation becoming especially severe this past winter, carrying out direct attacks aimed at destroying civilian lives in frontline areas, and launching targeted strikes intended to damage or erase cultural heritage sites.
The past few months have seen an unrelenting campaign of terror against civilians. While Ukraine has been precisely targeting Russia's military machine, Russia has been killing people in their own homes.
Over the past month, however, Russia's attacks have increasingly focused on Ukrainian books: publishing houses, book warehouses, and printing facilities have been attacked in various Ukrainian cities. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, at least 35 Ukrainian publishing houses have suffered direct material and financial losses.
Russian strikes destroyed more than 1.5 million books in July 2026 alone.
Representatives of Ukraine's publishing industry and literary community are sure that these attacks are not the result of targeting errors or collateral damage. They see them as part of a deliberate and calculated campaign to destroy the Ukrainian language, literature, culture, and, ultimately, Ukrainian identity.
The list below documents Russia's attacks on Ukraine's publishing industry - proving that the assault on Ukrainian books is part of a sustained campaign against Ukraine's language and has continued throughout the war.
August, 1, 2026 - Kharkiv
Target: The automated logistics centre of the RNK-Ranok publishing corporation and the distribution centre of the KnyhoLand bookstore chain.
Details and consequences: Russian Shahed drones destroyed more than 8 million books, including school textbooks that were scheduled to be delivered before the start of the academic year. The attack caused the largest loss of Ukraine's publishing infrastructure since the beginning of the full-scale invasion and temporarily halted book distribution for several Ukrainian publishers.
August 1, 2026 - Vyshneve, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine
Target: Central logistics warehouse of the "Rozum" board game publishing house (part of the Factor Group of Companies).
Details and consequences: A Russian missile strike targeted a logistics hub, resulting in the complete destruction of the primary warehouse facility. Over 200,000 board games, representing the publisher's entire stored inventory and print runs, were burned. Estimated financial damages range from 25 to 30 million UAH, along with severe supply chain disruptions for upcoming licensed releases. No human casualties were reported.
July 18-19, 2026 - Kyiv
Target: #knyholove warehouse, Mison office, Arc.ua office, and Konvi printing facility; affecting #knyholove, Mison, Arc.ua, Ranok, Hramota, Litera LTD, Linguist, Laboratoriia, Artbooks, Assa, Kalamar, Athena, Aston, BookChef, Vyshcha Shkola, Medytsyna, Apriori, and others.
Details and consequences: one of the three most powerful printing houses in Ukraine, Konvi, was destroyed. Immediately on the territory of this printing house, half a million books were destroyed, along with printing equipment.
Konvi Printing Facility: A ballistic missile strike destroyed the production hall roofs, ruined or flooded printing/bookbinding equipment, burned office spaces, lost 250,000 9th-grade textbooks, and damaged unfinished print runs totalling nearly 350,000 copies, threatening educational preparation for the school year.
Knyholove: Warehouse completely destroyed, resulting in the loss of nearly 250,000 books.
Mison Publishing House: Office completely destroyed on the eve of launching its debut book (Museum of Family Stories), putting initial print runs and publication schedules at risk.
Arc.ua Publishing House: Kyiv office suffered physical damage.
Human impact: No employee casualties were reported at any affected facility.
July 8, 2026 - Kyiv
Target: Office and storage facilities of the "Mamyne Sonechko" ("Mommy's Sunshine") children's publishing house.
Details and consequences: A widespread Russian missile strike on Kyiv damaged the administrative and logistics building housing "Mamyne Sonechko". The resulting impact and fire destroyed a substantial portion of stored inventory, including freshly printed children's books, educational magazines, and creative content materials for young readers. No staff casualties were reported.
July 4, 2026 - Kyiv
Target: Warehouse facility of the "Nash Format" publishing house.
Details and consequences: The impact and resulting blast wave damaged warehouse space and compromised stock, causing temporary delays in fulfilment and the supply chain for new titles. No staff casualties were reported.
July 2, 2026 - Kyiv
Target: Megapolihraf printing house & Denka Logistics warehouse; affecting Ranok and BookChef publishers.
Details and consequences: A Russian missile attack on Kyiv damaged the Megapolihraf printing facility (which was producing books and textbooks for Ranok) and completely destroyed a logistics warehouse, destroying approximately 800,000 BookChef books.
May 24, 2026 - Kyiv
Target: "Bukva" bookstore (in the "Kvadrat" shopping center), a "Knyharnia Ye" bookstore (Podil district), the Kyiv representative office of the "Ranok" publishing house, the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU), the Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the NAS of Ukraine, the Ancient Kyiv Historical and Architectural Reserve, the National Chornobyl Museum, the Kyiv Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, the Yaroslav the Wise National Library of Ukraine, the historic building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two schools in the Shevchenkivskyi district, the British Council office, several newsrooms/media offices, and residential buildings housing prominent Ukrainian writers and artists.
Details and consequences: A massive overnight Russian drone and missile attack caused widespread destruction across Kyiv's cultural, literary, and educational infrastructure just a week before Kyiv Day and the annual International Book Arsenal Festival. A direct hit on the "Kvadrat" shopping centre triggered a catastrophic fire that destroyed the "Bukva" bookstore, which had operated for over a decade, along with its entire inventory and equipment. Simultaneously, blast waves and direct impacts inflicted structural damage on "Ranok's" administrative offices, shattered windows at "Knyharnia Ye," damaged key national museums, historical reserves, academic institutes, and foreign diplomatic offices. Despite the loss, the "Bukva" team announced plans to launch a new Kyiv store the following month. No personnel fatalities were reported.
May 13-14, 2026 - Kharkiv
Target: Ranok logistics centre and One More Page warehouse.
Details and consequences: An overnight missile-and-drone attack damaged distribution facilities, destroying book inventory, disrupting supply chains, and delaying online orders.
November 24-25, 2025 - Kyiv
Target: "From A to Z" printing house.
Details and consequences: A targeted Russian Shahed strike on Kyiv caused a nearby drone explosion that damaged the production facilities of the "From A to Z" printing house, a key printer specialising in books and graphic novels/comics for major Ukrainian publishers, including Artbooks, Vydavnytstvo, Ranok, and Kalamar. Despite structural damage to the building, no employees were injured, and the team confirmed operations would continue.
October 21-22, 2025 - Kyiv
Target: "Plekay" secondhand bookstore
Details and consequences: A combined Russian missile and drone attack targeted Kyiv, with heavy blast waves impacting the historic Podil district. The blast shattered windows and glass facades at the "Plekay" bookstore, no staff were injured and operations would continue.
September 30, 2025 - Dnipro
Target: Warehouse facility of the "Smaky" publishing house (specialising in children's and educational literature).
Details and consequences: A targeted Russian attack on Dnipro struck commercial infrastructure, directly damaging the primary warehouse of the "Smaky" publishing house. The impact and resulting structural damage destroyed a significant portion of its printed book inventory. No casualties among publishing personnel were reported.
August 28, 2025 - Kyiv
Target: "KnyhoLand" bookstore and "Readeat" bookstore.
Details and consequences: A targeted Russian shelling attack on the capital caused structural damage to both the "KnyhoLand" and "Readeat" retail bookstores. The impact and immediate aftermath resulted in physical damage to the commercial premises and the destruction/ruin of stored book stock. No casualties among bookstore personnel were reported.
July 4, 2025 - Kyiv
Target: Warehouse and office premises of "Nash Format" publishing house and online store (storing 300,000--350,000 books from "Nash Format" and partner publishers).
Details and consequences: The impact and resulting blast wave damaged warehouse space and compromised stock, causing temporary fulfilment and supply chain delays for new titles. No staff casualties were reported.
June 16-17, 2025 - Kyiv
Target: "Ukrayinskyi Priorytet" publishing house, "Їzhakultura" publishing house, "Book.ua" bookstore chain, along with broader residential and civil infrastructure.
Details and consequences: The attack resulted in the total destruction of the "Ukrayinskyi Priorytet" publishing house office and warehouse, burning tens of thousands of books (over 130 titles on Ukrainian history) to ash. The office and storage facilities of "Їzhakultura" suffered severe structural inner deformation from cruise missile fragments, while the doors and glass facade of the "Book.ua" (Faina) bookstore were blown out by the blast wave.
February 28 - March 1, 2025 - Kharkiv
Target: "Knyholand" and "Klub Simeynoho Dozvollya" (KSD) bookstores, alongside the "Triada-Pak" printing house (which prints and stores school textbooks for the "Ranok" publishing house).
Details and consequences: Russian forces launched a series of at least nine drone strikes targeting three districts of Kharkiv. The attack targeted commercial and industrial infrastructure, damaging bookstore locations and affecting the "Triada-Pak" printing facility. Operations and stored educational inventory for "Ranok" were affected.
May 23, 2024 - Kharkiv
Target: Factor-Druk printing house (Osnovyanskyi district, Kharkiv); part of the Factor holding group (which includes Vivat publishing house and bookstores). Printed books for Vivat and almost all major Ukrainian publishers.
Details and consequences: Russian forces struck the full-cycle printing facility with two missiles while over 50 employees were working inside. A massive fire broke out in the paper processing workshop. 7 employees were killed, and 16 were injured. 50,000 books were burned; as a result, the capacity of Ukraine's publishing market was at risk of declining by 40%.
March 20, 2024 - Kharkiv
Target: "Gurov and Co" printing house, "Avrora" printing facility, as well as production lines manufacturing print runs for "Ranok", "Vivat", "Chas Maistriv", "Crocus", and "Shkola" publishing houses.
Details and consequences: A targeted Russian missile strike on a commercial complex in Kharkiv's Kholodnohirskyi district caused a catastrophic fire across a 10,000 m² area. The strike and resulting blaze completely destroyed the production facilities and warehouses of the "Gurov and Co" and "Avrora" printing houses. Large volumes of printed books, educational materials, and raw paper inventory were turned to ash, directly impacting major Ukrainian publishers.
In 2023, Ukrainian publishing houses and printing facilities were less affected by direct physical destruction and more by the consequences of Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure during the winter of 2022--2023. Blackouts, logistical disruptions and damage to supply chains significantly complicated their operations.
April 24, 2022 - Kharkiv
Target: Central logistics centre of the "Ranok" publishing group.
Details and consequences: Heavy Russian artillery shelling targeted Kharkiv's commercial infrastructure, inflicting structural damage on the primary logistics and distribution hub of the "Ranok" publishing house. The attack damaged storage facilities and disrupted book distribution networks across Ukraine during the critical early months of the full-scale invasion.
March 12, 2022 - Kharkiv
Target: "Unisoft" printing house - one of Ukraine's largest printing complexes, partnering with over 200 publishing houses.
Details and consequences: During the intense early shelling of Kharkiv, targeted bombardment damaged the facade and external structures of the "Unisoft" printing plant. The strike disrupted production lines and threatened large-scale book print runs for partner publishers across the country.
Russia's assault on Ukrainian books extends far beyond publishers and printing houses. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, more than 1,000 Ukrainian libraries have been damaged or destroyed, with more than 200 million books lost, including physical destruction, looting, and systemic destruction of Ukrainian literature in occupied territories. Many of these libraries were deliberately targeted or devastated in attacks on cities across Ukraine, underscoring that Russia's war is aimed not only at people and infrastructure, but also at Ukraine's cultural memory and identity.
All of this is a repeatable pattern: the tactic of destroying Ukrainian writing, the Ukrainian language, and the Ukrainian word has been a consistent policy of Moscow - from the Russian Empire, through Soviet Russia, and now the Russian Federation.
The goal has remained the same: erasure. Only methods have changed.
In the past, this meant burning books, banning publications, restricting the use of the Ukrainian language, such as through the Ems Ukaz, and preventing Ukrainian intellectuals from writing and creating in their own language. Today, the methods are more destructive and devastating: missile and drone strikes that, with the press of a few buttons, can erase millions of copies of books, millions of stories and ideas.
Russia understands something that other democracies may have forgotten: words can change minds, and books shape the way nations evolve. That is why the Kremlin bombs printing houses, burns libraries and destroys textbooks meant for children, it is one more way to erase Ukraine not only from the map, but from memory.
However hard Russia tries, it will not succeed.
Ukrainians are uniting to support their publishers: buying books from remaining stock, purchasing from bookstores, or even pre-ordering books that will only be printed later. All of this has one goal - to help publishers recover from enormous losses, rebuild, and continue bringing Ukrainian books to readers.
Every Ukrainian book that survives, every new book that is published, and even the smallest contribution is proof that Russia's attempt to erase Ukrainian culture is failing.
