Russian Attacks Destroy Over 10 Million Books in Ukraine, Prompting Ukrainian Book Institute's Global Appeal
More than 10 million books have been destroyed across Ukraine during a series of Russian attacks in the summer of 2026, the Ukrainian Book Institute reported on 13 August, as it appealed to the international publishing community for support.
The losses span publishing offices, warehouses, bookstores, libraries and printing facilities — roughly 30 per cent of Ukraine's annual book production, according to the Institute's figures. In July 2026 alone, more than 1.5 million books were destroyed, as reported by UkraineWorld on 10 August (UkraineWorld, Facebook).
A single Russian strike on a distribution centre in Kharkiv accounted for approximately eight million of those books. The facility was used by RNK-Ranok, a major Ukrainian educational publisher, and the Knygoland bookstore chain — meaning the destruction hit both the wholesale and retail layers of the country's book supply at once (Publishing Perspectives).
Several individual publishers have reported their own tallies. BookChef Publishing House lost approximately 800,000 books in an attack on 2 July 2026, and its remaining 150,000 were destroyed in a second strike. Knyholav Publishing House reported nearly 250,000 books lost. Konvi Group, one of Ukraine's largest printers, lost approximately 600,000 books — including 250,000 school textbooks and 350,000 books printed on behalf of other publishers. Ark.UA Publishing reported damage to its offices.
The Ukrainian Book Institute — a state body that shapes national book policy, promotes reading, supports the book industry and funds translations — issued its appeal with specific requests for the international community. It called on publishers worldwide to end cooperation with Russian publishing houses and literary agencies (Chytomo; LB.ua). It also called for a ban on the spread of Russian narratives through cultural products, particularly books, and provided details for making direct financial contributions to support reconstruction.
The Ukrainian government is separately preparing to allocate funds for what the Institute described as "restoration of infrastructure" — the physical rebuilding of printing plants, warehouses and distribution networks that connect a manuscript to a reader.
The scale of the destruction is difficult to picture. Ten million books is roughly the combined first print run of every novel on a typical year's global bestseller list, multiplied many times over. In a country where books are printed domestically, shipped through a handful of distribution centres and sold through independent shops and chains alike, the loss of a single warehouse can sever the supply of textbooks to schools and of new titles to shops for months.
The Institute maintains an English-language news page at ubi.org.ua/en/news for updates on its programmes and its appeal.
For context, the Institute had been running its Translate Ukraine 2026 programme, which aims to bring 100 Ukrainian books to international readers through translation grants, and had announced the shortlist for the Drahomán Prize — an award recognising the best translation of Ukrainian literature into foreign languages — earlier in the year. Those programmes now unfold against the loss of the domestic infrastructure that produces the books they promote.
