Millions of burnt books show how 'war of endurance' is hurting Ukraine

KYIV - Viktor Kruhlov, director of Ranok, one of Ukraine’s largest children’s publishers, struggled to hold back tears as he watched pile after pile of his books turn to ash.

“It’s a terrible sight to see books burning,” he said.

A Russian drone strike on Ranok’s warehouse in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Aug 1 destroyed about 8 million books, the biggest blow yet to Ukraine’s publishing industry during the four-year-old war.

Publishers say more than 10 million books have been destroyed in attacks on warehouses in recent months, threatening an industry that initially benefited from rising demand for Ukrainian-language literature at the start of the conflict.

As firefighters battled the blaze, Kruhlov said the first explosion at the warehouse was followed moments later by a second at the same spot.

“This was a deliberately planned attack against the book warehouse,” said Kruhlov, whose company prints around one-third of the textbooks used in Ukrainian schools.

Russia’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The attacks on book warehouses and printing houses have resonated deeply in a country where many see the war as a fight for national survival and identity. Education Minister Andrii Butenko described them as an attempt to destroy the Ukrainian language, history and memory, “everything from which the identity of our children grows.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly questioned Ukraine’s separate statehood and argued that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.

Beyond their symbolic impact, the strikes on the publishing industry illustrate the mounting economic costs of a war increasingly defined by endurance, economists and business leaders say.

Mounting losses

“There are signs of a crisis in the market. We don’t yet know how the situation will develop,” said Yevhen Shyrynos, chief editor of publisher BookChef, which lost about 800,000 books - the majority of its inventory - in a Russian attack on Kyiv on July 2.

Another 100,000 books were lost when their backup warehouse was hit in a Russian attack this week.

“It depends on Ukraine’s overall economic situation,” Shyrynos said.

Ukraine’s economy has proved resilient during the war, adapting to blackouts, labour shortages and repeated attacks on infrastructure while remaining afloat with support from Western allies. But annual economic output, at roughly US$215 billion (S$275 billion), remains about a fifth below its pre-invasion level.

In an effort to take the war back to Moscow, Ukraine has stepped up its own attacks on Russia’s economy, targeting oil facilities and logistics warehouses as well as weapons production facilities.

Iryna Plekhova, who survived a Russian missile and drone attack, holds one of the remaining books from her private collection, in her burned down Kyiv apartment. PHOTO: REUTERS

Economists and executives say the conflict is becoming a test of economic endurance.

“Essentially, it’s a struggle for survival – whoever can hold out the longest,” said Olga Pindyuk from the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies.

Toll on economic growth

Most economists expect Ukraine’s growth to slow further in 2026 as Russia intensifies strikes on infrastructure and logistics.

A survey released on Aug 5 by the Kyiv-based Centre for Economic Strategy cut the median growth forecast for next year to 1.1 per cent from 2.4 per cent. Ukraine’s economy grew by about 1.8 per cent in 2025.

“I meet businesses every day and there has not been such despair over losses ... since 2022,” Danylo Hetmantsev, head of parliament’s tax committee, told Ukrainian television.

“The economy is currently experiencing significant losses.”

The defence sector is one of the few growth areas, due to the massive demand from the battlefield. About 60 per cent of state spending in 2026 is devoted to defence.

The central bank expects the defence industry to contribute about 1.4 percentage points to Ukraine’s total economic growth of 1.8 per cent this year - meaning the rest of the economy is essentially stagnant.

In particular, the vital agricultural sector - which accounts for the majority of Ukraine’s exports - is struggling. Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi has said Russian attacks on Black Sea port infrastructure could cost the farm sector between US$1.5 billion and US$3 billion in 2026.

Long recovery

Publishing faces particular challenges because books can take six to 18 months to produce.

After an early wartime boom driven by demand for Ukrainian-language titles and bans on Russian imports, publishers now face rising costs, long replacement times and repeated losses from strikes.

BookChef has looked at reducing risks for its storage facilities and expanding its network of printers. But with printing costs up about 40 per cent over the past two years, fewer Ukrainians can afford to buy books regularly.

Shyrynos expects the sector to stagnate.

“In fact, all our sectors will stagnate and decline until the war is over. The war is a vast, bottomless abyss that devours whatever funds you allocate to it.” REUTERS