Russia destroyed 1.2 million textbooks in Ukraine
Ukrainian schools have already received 88% of the 9th-grade textbooks, despite the destruction of part of the print run as a result of Russian missile strikes on printing facilities. The Education Committee reported that they plan to complete the delivery of all lost books by October 5.
Serhiy Babak, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science, and Innovation, announced this on Telegram.
According to Babak, plans are in place to print 118 different textbook titles for 9th graders in 2026, with a total print run of 8.9 million copies. As of September 1, 117 titles had been printed, and 75.9% of the print run had been delivered to schools.
Preliminary data as of September 15 indicates that the delivery rate has risen to 88%.
At the same time, of the 59 textbook titles for fourth grade, only 6.55% of the print run has been delivered to schools. Delivery has not yet begun for certain sixth- and seventh-grade textbooks and publications for children with special educational needs.
The committee chair noted that on July 19 and August 1, Russian missile strikes destroyed 1.2 million textbooks that had already been printed and were ready to be shipped to schools.
This accounts for 8.9% of the total print run, with approximately 70% of the losses consisting specifically of textbooks for 9th grade. The total value of the destroyed books is estimated at nearly 145 million hryvnias.
As of September 15, 40.4% of the lost print run had been replaced, and the reprinting is scheduled to be fully completed by October 5.
According to Babak, due to the consequences of the rocket attacks, delivery times this year will be longer than usual.
It is expected that all 9th-grade textbooks will be delivered to schools within the next month, and textbooks for 4th, 6th, and 7th grades by the end of November. The situation remains most challenging for textbooks for children with special educational needs, which, according to the deputy, are traditionally delivered only at the end of the year.
He also noted that there is currently no mechanism in place to compensate publishers from the state budget. The Ministry of Education, together with international partners, has already secured approximately 13 million hryvnias to reprint destroyed editions and continues to seek additional funding.
In addition, the Committee is preparing a pilot program to support book publishing by stocking school libraries, a decision on which the government may adopt in the near future.
Source: Serhiy Babak
As a reminder, Russia struck a maternity hospital in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv.
In Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi district, a residential area was destroyed as a result of a Russian attack on September 24. According to preliminary reports, there were no fatalities among the residents.
Russia launched a missile attack on Kyiv on the night of September 24, leaving two dead and eight injured.
