Ukraine: Destruction of books by Russian strikes condemned
‘The Russian Federation’s deliberate targeting of Ukrainian libraries and publishing facilities amounts to an assault on Ukraine’s very identity and must stop immediately. Once again, we urge the international community to do everything in its power to support Ukraine’s invaluable cultural sector, including its publishing industry’, said Romana Cacchioli, Executive Director of PEN International.
04 September 2026 – PEN International joins PEN Ukraine in vehemently condemning mounting attacks by Russian forces on Ukraine’s cultural heritage, including repositories of Ukrainian literature.
According to media reports, Russian strikes on Ukrainian publishing houses and affiliated warehouses in July and August 2026 alone destroyed approximately 12 million books, amounting to one third of all the books printed in Ukraine this year. The devastating strikes are the latest in a series of mounting attacks by Russian forces on the Ukrainian publishing industry. Notably in July 2025, PEN Ukraine’s book warehouse in Kiyv was damaged by a Russian missile strike.
PEN Ukraine condemned the Russian army’s relentless targeting of Ukrainian books and urged the Ukrainian authorities as well as the international community to bolster support to Ukraine’s publishing industry. Their statement reads:
‘Why does the Russian army destroy Ukrainian books? Because it knows that reading is the foundation of culture and meaning. Books shape our values, our ways of thinking, our cultural memory, our identity, and our sense of community. They are also a foundation of national education.
Russia is waging war not only against Ukrainians. It is waging war against the very possibility of being Ukrainian. It seeks to destroy Ukrainian identity and Ukrainian self-awareness.
Ukraine’s struggle today is not only a struggle for independence. It is also a struggle for our culture.
It is a struggle for culture itself.’
PEN International stands with PEN Ukraine and partners, who continue to play a leading role in supporting Ukraine’s cultural life and literary community, including through PEN Ukraine’s Unbreakable Libraries project, which has delivered over 100,000 books to conflict-affected libraries since June 2022.
As the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine rages on, PEN International reiterates calls on the international community to pay close attention to attacks on cultural heritage in Ukraine, and to support Ukraine’s cultural sector as well as preservation and protection endeavours. Culture must be placed at the heart of reconstruction and recovery efforts.
For more information about PEN Ukraine’s work, please click here.
For more information about PEN International’s work on Ukraine, please click here.
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