The Heart of Ukrainian Culture Damaged

Two Russian drones slammed into a warehouse belonging to Ranok Publishing at about 11 a.m. on a Saturday in August.

With a fire so hot that employees were unable to extinguish it, everyone ran for shelter. As the fire burned for about a week, almost everything inside was burnt and destroyed. This was not a typical attack on a weapons depot but belonged to one of the largest children’s book publishers in Ukraine.

“Russia thinks that books are more dangerous for them than military equipment,” Viktor Kruglov, the publishing house’s chief executive, said. “They deliberately damage, erase, extinguish everything which is connected with Ukrainian culture.”

The drone attack destroyed a grand total of eight million books, over half the books destroyed from Russian shelling, which in turn totals almost half of Ukraine’s annual production. The attacks have cost the book industry an estimated almost $40 million.

Besides destroying books, Russia attacked a long list of materials this summer, including fresh produce, meat, and hundreds of tons of pharmaceuticals, destroying about 40% of Ukraine’s modern warehouse capacity.

The tragedy of the attacks is that Ukrainian books are tied to Ukraine’s desire for independence from Russia. They represent ideas, build empathy, and open minds.

All the while, Russian president Vladimir V. Putin claims that Ukraine is not a genuine country because the whole country speaks Russian.

Although most Ukrainians speak or understand Russian, especially in occupied eastern Ukraine, most Ukrainians speak Ukrainian as their chief language. It has long been a political statement to do so.

Ukrainian bookstores are still selling books, with no noticeable shortages as of now. But in parts of the country, children started school bookless.