Russia destroys nearly 1 million BookChef books this summer

A Russian attack overnight on Aug. 5 destroyed another 100,000 books belonging to the Ukrainian publishing house BookChef, while the publisher’s losses from previous Russian attacks totalled 900,000 books. BookChef announced this on its Facebook page.

The books represented the publisher’s remaining stock (100,000 books) and were stored at a warehouse operated by BookChef’s logistics partner, Denka Logistics. A Russian missile struck the facility.

The warehouse had only recently begun operating after BookChef’s main storage facility was destroyed during a previous Russian attack on July 2. The reserve warehouse held part of the publisher’s remaining inventory, including new releases that had recently arrived from printing houses and were expected to reach bookstores shortly.

“Fire has taken more than 100,000 additional BookChef books. This was all of our remaining warehouse stock and new releases that had only recently arrived from printing houses and were soon supposed to be in your hands,” the publisher said.

BookChef added that some of the destroyed books never reached their readers.

“We always look forward to the moment when a new print run arrives from the printing house. Today, instead of that joy, there is emptiness. Some of these books never had the chance to meet their readers,” the publisher said.

The publishing house is now reviewing its preorder fulfillment schedules. As of Aug. 5, BookChef was continuing to assess the consequences of the attack. The delivery dates for affected orders will depend on the launch of new warehouse facilities and the reprinting of individual editions.

“As soon as we have updated information, new print-run and reprint dates will appear on the website so that everyone can check the status of their order,” BookChef said.

The publisher encouraged readers to support its recovery by purchasing titles that remain available through the BookChef online store or from online and physical bookstores across Ukraine. It also asked readers to share information about the attack and leave messages of support.

As reported earlier, Russia’s July 2 attack on Kyiv destroyed approximately 800,000 BookChef books stored at another warehouse operated by Denka Logistics. No employees at the logistics center were injured. The same attack damaged the Megapolihraf printing house while it was producing books and school textbooks for the Ranok publishing house.

Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s publishing infrastructure during the summer. An attack on Kyiv overnight on July 18–19 destroyed or damaged around 850,000 books, devastated the Konvi printing facility, destroyed a warehouse belonging to the #knygolove publishing house and the office of the newly established Mison publishing house, and damaged the Arc.ua office.

On Aug. 1, a Russian attack caused a large fire at RNK-Ranok’s automated logistics center in Kharkiv. According to preliminary figures released by the company, the attack destroyed 8 million book copies representing 28,000 titles, including 600,000 school textbooks intended for delivery to Ukrainian schools by Sept. 1.

Books published by Ranok, Fabula, Readberry, Korali Books, Zhorzh, One More Page, Varvar Publishing, Osnova, Svoie, Kenguru, 4mamas, Glimmer, Urbino, Hto Tse?, Artbooks, Vidkryttia, Safran Book and Babylon Library were also destroyed in the attack, along with stock belonging to the KnyhoLand bookstore chain.

Over the past four years, an average of around 25 million book copies were published annually in Ukraine. Russian attacks destroyed more than 1.5 million Ukrainian book copies in July alone. This means that this summer alone, Ukraine has lost more than one-third of its annual book output.

Main image: Illustrative photo showing the consequences of the previous Russian attack on July 2.