Russia hits Kharkiv publishing house depot twice, destroying millions of books
Fire following a Russian attack on the Ranok publishing warehouse (photo: facebook.com/viktor.kruglov.98)
A Russian strike set fire to a warehouse belonging to the Ranok publishing corporation, which also served as a distribution center for the KnyhoLand bookstore chain. Millions of books were destroyed in the blaze, according to RNK-Ranok founder Viktor Kruglov and KnyhoLand bookstore chain director Igor Zarudko.
Viktor Kruglov said two drones struck the warehouse in the same location. He believes the attack was a deliberately planned operation aimed at destroying textbooks and Ukrainian book production.
Fire that erupted after a Russian attack on the Ranok publishing warehouse (photo: t.me/knyharnia_ye)
Fire that erupted after a Russian attack on the Ranok publishing warehouse (photo: t.me/knyharnia_ye)
Books burnt by the Russian Federation at the Ranok publishing warehouse (photo: t.me/knyharnia_ye)
Scale of losses
According to Chytomo, a media outlet covering the publishing industry, Viktor Kruglov, chairman of the supervisory board of the Ranok publishing corporation, said that 600,000 textbooks, 28,000 book titles, and 8 million copies were destroyed. He estimated the losses at approximately 1 billion hryvnias.
At the same time, the facility also served as a distribution center for the KnyhoLand bookstore chain, storing tens of thousands of book titles from publishers across Ukraine.
The warehouses were used to store products from publishers, including Ranok, Fabula, READBERRY, Korali Books, and several other publishing houses that are part of the RNK-Ranok corporate group. It was also the distribution center for the KnyhoLand chain, where books from tens of thousands of titles by Ukrainian publishers were kept.
For some time, one of the warehouse employees could not be reached. Later, Kruglov reported that the woman had responded and was safe.
Igor Zarudko, director of the nationwide KnyhoLand bookstore chain, confirmed that the strike hit the Ranok and KnyhoLand warehouses, and that the entire facility was engulfed in flames. As a result, the chain temporarily suspended accepting orders through its website.
Notable that this is not the first loss suffered by Ukrainian publishers due to Russian attacks in recent weeks. On the night of July 19, a strike destroyed the Knyholav publishing house's depot, burning around 250,000 books.
Earlier, on the night of July 2, a logistics partner's warehouse belonging to the BookChef publishing house was destroyed during a massive attack on Kyiv, with around 800,000 books lost.
