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book publishing industry during war
Russian attack on Kyiv: 28 killed, publishing house destroyed, bookstore damaged
18.06.2025
On the night of June 16-17, 2025, Russia launched 175 drones, more than 14 cruise missiles and at least two ballistic missiles at Kyiv and surrounding areas. The combined attack killed 28 people in the capital alone and damaged 27 sites across various districts, including residential buildings, educational institutions, critical infrastructure, bookstores and publishing houses. Ukrainian publishers, cultural managers, bookstore owners and authors describe how they endured the attack.
Artem Braichenko
Co-founder of Їzhakultura Publishing
“Our publishing house’s office and storage space are located on the ground floor of the residential building where we live. The building sustained significant damage from the impact of fragments of a Russian cruise missile. The force of the explosion was so powerful that it caused structural deformation inside the building, including damage to the doors and walls of our office.
If we once considered our office as a potential shelter for ourselves and our neighbors, we now realize the uncertainty of that idea. Yet despite the horror of the tragedy we experienced, what remains most striking is the sense of unity and compassion shown by our neighbors and complete strangers — witnesses to the tragedy — who were ready to help, right there and then.”
Photo: Olena Braichenko
Volodymyr Shovkoshytnyi
CEO, Ukrayinskyi Priorytet Publishing
“Friends! Last night in Kyiv, the Russian invaders — may God love the truth — targeted not only residential buildings and hospitals, but finally struck a truly strategic site: our publishing house, Ukrainian Priority, was completely destroyed and burned to the ground. The office and warehouse are gone. Tens of thousands of books — over 130 titles — were turned to ash. Among them were works on our history, from the Scythian era to the present day. One can understand the logic of these degenerates — after all, not a single reader of our books was ever a “hero” of the Tysa crossing or the storming of Monaco. Our readers have defended Ukraine from day one — because for true Ukrainians, Ukraine comes before all else. Today, with my own hands, I sifted through the ashes of 14 years of my life. But I firmly believe in the Phoenix. And so I am convinced — Ukraine will prevail! And Ukrainian Priority will rise again from the ashes!”
Photo: Volodymyr Shovkoshytnyi
As reported earlier, in November 2023, Ukrainian Priority team member and sales manager, traveler, and Ukrainian Armed Forces volunteer Valentyn Dobryi was killed at the front. After the missile strike on the publishing house, his partner and project manager Lieda Kosmachevska wrote on Facebook:
“…The books that Valentyn Dobryi once typeset burned there, along with the reissue of [historical novel] ‘Holy Blood’, a book dedicated to him. Another piece of my soul burned there as well. […] There is a level of pain that feels like a bottomless abyss — you fall for so long that you no longer expect to hit the ground. And in that moment, it feels like you no longer know what’s real. Maybe reality no longer exists. We cannot allow ourselves to be destroyed. We simply have no right to.”
Ivan Bohdan
CEO, Book.ua bookstore
“The door didn’t withstand the impact at our beloved Faina, but the books held strong! We will recover and get back to work! And to spite the Moskals, we will open a new bookstore! Our condolences to all those affected and to the families of those killed in the night attack on the capital.”
Photo: Book.ua
The My Bookshelf bookstores, owned by Natalia Mospan, were not damaged and offered free coffee to everyone as a gesture of support.
Yevheniia Polosyna
Illustrator and printmaker
“The first three minutes of morning scrolling in Ukraine since we’re all sleep-deprived here, I have no metaphors for you. Probably the fact that I’m just writing down (drawing down?) what I see on my social media won’t help me with illustration commissions, but I can’t be subtle and witty, today, when I’ve slept for 20 minutes and I can’t help myself with my need to say something.”
Andriy Kokotiukha, popular Ukrainian writer, author of 100+ books wrote on June, 16 before the attack:
Words and phrases that have lost their original meaning: ‘powerful,’ ‘unbreakable,’ ‘to make a deal.’
Yuliia Lesechko
Kyiv bookstores Manager, Old Lion Publishing House
“Don’t believe us when we say we survived, got up, and went back to work: at first, you live through every explosion (will they kill me or not, fear for your loved ones), then you read or see the strikes, ask friends and acquaintances how they are, later the pain for people trapped under the rubble goes through you. And all this is intense, and the morning is not always a relief. But technically, yes — we got up and went back to work.”
Anastasiia Zelinska
PhD in Social Communications, Assistant professor of the Educational and Research Institute of Journalism, Kyiv National University of Kyiv
“At 3:50 a.m., my husband and I woke up to an unusual sound. The first thought was: ‘Was that a nuke?’ Later, it turned out to be a fragment of a missile carrying cluster munitions. It had passed straight through our building, and explosive technicians were collecting bomblets from nearby playgrounds and the roadway.
After such a terrifying night, I gave my child a cold breakfast, called my parents to reassure them we were okay, and went to work — because today was thesis defense day for the journalism undergraduates at the university. The students were sleep-deprived, and so were the exam committee members. But the defenses went on, and the future journalists presented high-quality work, most of it focused on the war.
Photo: Anastasiia Zelinska
That’s just how life is. Like in that meme: “Ukrainians have flexible work schedules — if you survive a night of shelling, you go to work. If you don’t, you don’t.”
Julia Musakovska
Poet, writer and translator
“Do you know that in Ukrainian, the word for “intact” (in plural) is the same as the word for “targets”? It’s painfully accurate about Ukrainian reality. When you ask us after another airstrike whether we are intact, many of us may be — but we all still remain targets for the Moscovian murderers. As long as the evil empire stands, empowered by their war-mongering and hateful — or spineless and indifferent population. In its wet dreams, it spreads its claws to restore the Soviet prison of nations and re-establish the former spheres of influence in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond — however far they can reach. Destroying and killing as much as they can on the way. More weeks and months of impunity, the closer the EU borders. And make no mistake — no borders are sacred anymore. We are not the only targets,” Musakovska wrote in her Facebook post.”
Slava Svitova
CEO, Creative Women Publishing
“Of course, it is difficult for the world to understand HOW we live. But we live. This is our abnormal life, where a rocket can collapse a building and bury people alive beneath it. Where fear is gone because we simply sleep in our beds despite the Shahed drones flying back and forth outside, and the chances that one of them might crash through your window are quite high.
You know, it sounds very noble when people in the Western world admire our spirit, our resilience, but damn, we have been living like this since 2022. This is not a normal context. We did not choose to be strong and unbreakable, but what else can we do in these conditions? Bury ourselves in the ground?
If someone wants to kill us, what options do we have other than to keep living? I can’t imagine what we carry inside and under our skin; I sympathize with all of us with all my heart. And I hold on to my own. Because my own say: Russia will fall; sooner or later it will be so. That is what keeps us all going.
Eternal memory to all who died in this terrible war. Condolences to those who lost relatives and loved ones, who have suffered great losses… Strength to those who remain in the country and live despite everything, who support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and who do something useful.”
June 18 was declared a day of mourning, and organizers of entertainment events were asked to refrain from holding “entertainment activities.” However, on June 17, organizers of literary events hesitated about whether to hold their events. Still, the events took place — and became moments of gathering for people during these difficult days.
Rosa Tapanova,
Director of the National Historical and Cultural Reserve Babyn Yar
“Today, we all endured a terrible night and losses. This morning, we questioned whether to hold our poetry reading event. But in our minds was Paul Celan’s ‘Death Fugue’:
“Black milk of morning we drink you evenings
we drink you at noon and mornings we drink you at night
we drink and we drink.”
translation of the poem by Pierre Joris
“Today, poems will be read about loss, living with the understanding of those losses, pain, and our strength to live.”
Photo: Yuriy Doroshenko
“Friends, after last night’s shelling and the deaths of Kyiv residents, we questioned whether it was appropriate to hold this reading. In the end, we decided not to cancel. For us, tonight’s gathering is a chance to once again remember those we’ve lost and to support those who defend us. Babyn Yar is not only a place of memory — it is a place of great responsibility and honesty,” wrote Serhiy Zhadan.
The poetry evening took place — around a hundred people came to listen to Serhiy Zhadan in Kyiv.
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