Ukraine’s State Language Protection Commissioner on how many libraries and books Russia destroyed in Ukraine

The Russians have destroyed or damaged nearly a thousand libraries since the start of the full-scale invasion. Photo: billiondigital/Depositphotos

The Russians have destroyed or damaged nearly a thousand libraries in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. 

Source: Ukrainian government, citing State Language Protection Commissioner Taras Kremin

Over 200 million Ukrainian books have been lost due to Russian aggression.

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Quote: “Russian-ruined cultural and educational institutions urgently need fiction, educational and historical literature. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russian forces have destroyed or damaged nearly a thousand libraries, resulting in the loss of over 200 million Ukrainian books. Our mission is to restore these library collections as fully as possible and make it a national priority,” the statement reads.

Background:

• On the all-Ukrainian Library Day, celebrated annually on 30 September, Kremin urged everyone to join efforts in restoring library collections and support the Free People Read in Ukrainian project, which aims to collect Ukrainian-language books for Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Sumy oblasts.  
• More than 50,000 books were destroyed and at least three publishers – Vivat, Family Leisure Club (KSD) and Ranok (Morning) – were affected by a Russian attack on the Faktor-Druk printing house in Kharkiv on 23 May.

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