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 August 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.
