Russian army attacks printing house in Kharkiv causing injury and death – UPDATED

Russian occupiers attacked one of the biggest Ukrainian printing houses, Factor Druk, a civilian company. Oleh Syniehubov, the head of Kharkiv Regional Civil-Military Administration, reported many were killed and injured.

Oleh Syniehubov recounted the 15 explosions in Kharkiv and Kharkiv oblast that occurred on May 23.

“These were missile attacks on Kharkiv itself and the suburban area. As for Kharkiv, we know that a civilian company had been hit, according to our data, two people were killed and six were injured. As for Kharkiv oblast: the missile attack targeted residential areas, and we know of seven victims. Strikes targeted the park area and transport infrastructure. The rest of the strikes and damages are being investigated,” he said.

The civilian company in question is the Factor Druk printing house – the binding and book cover shop was hit particularly hard.

This is our printing house, yes. There’s a fire there now. They are clearing the rubble and rescuing people,

wrote CEO of the Vivat Publishing House, Yulia Orlova, in a comment on the “Fu**ing read books️” Telegram channel at 11:46 a.m. Kyiv time.

The printing house Factor-Druk is part of the Factor company group, which also includes the renowned Ukrainian publishing house and bookstore Vivat. Factor-Druk has the capacity to produce approximately 50 million hardcover and paperback books, 100 million magazines, and 300 million newspapers annually. The facility employs 400 people and encompasses 15,822 square meters of production space. According to Forbes Ukraine, Factor-Druk is one of only two factories in Ukraine that can print products for Disney and Marvel, having successfully passed a rigorous multi-level audit.

Oleh Syniehubov reported in his Telegram channel at 1:11 p.m. that there were more than 50 employees at the plant at the time of the strike. One of the attacks came directly at the printing house, and two more were near the plant. At this time, six were reported dead, 11 wounded and two missing.

At 1:35 p.m., it was reported that seven people were killed.

At 1:39 p.m., the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported at least seven company employees were killed and 16 injured.

At 7:13 p.m., the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported about 21 injured employees.

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported seven company employees were killed with 22 injured employees in total.

Representatives of the Vivat Publishing House noted that this printing house is one of the largest full-cycle printing complexes in Europe, and almost all Ukrainian publishers print their books here.

The main department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region

“If you open your books to the last pages, you can see how many of them were printed by Factor Printing House. You will be surprised how many there are, we promise. If you want to support the printing house, please take photos of these books and post them on your social media. Publishers and bookstores can also join in,”  wrote a representative of the Vivat Publishing House in a post on their Facebook page.

Main image: The main department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region

Copy editing: Terra Friedman King