Russia adds cultural war to its crimes in attacks on Ukraine - Steve Cardownie

A recent spate of attacks has destroyed 12 million books, leading to local media outlets reporting that Russia has destroyed up to one third of all the books printed in Ukraine last year, with more than 35 publishing facilities being hit in the last few weeks alone.

The BBC reported that one such attack targeted a printing plant on the outskirts of Kyiv which was in the throes of delivering up to 1.3 million books for school pupils.

The director of the plant said that over the last couple of months some of Ukraine’s largest publishing houses have witnessed the destruction of their logistics warehouses, where large quantities of books were kept in storage.

Tellingly, she went on to claim that “The Russians are also destroying printing houses in an attempt to erase Ukraine as a nation. But frankly they will not succeed.”

Russia has also been targeting art galleries, film studios, museums, libraries and opera houses.

Tetyana Berezhna, the Ukranian Minister of Culture told the BBC that “This is an existential war, so Russia wants to destroy us a nation, to erase us as a nation, like Ukranians do not exist and have never existed. That’s why Russia targets our cultural heritage, the symbols of our presence here for a long time.

"They understand that it’s very important for us because we protect our identity, we protect our culture, and Russia wants to ruin everything that it cannot appropriate.”

According to the United Nation’s cultural organisation, UNESCO, 432 cultural sites have been damaged in Ukraine since Russia’s illegal invasion of February 2022.

The Kremlin’s policy has resulted in 139 religious sites being hit in addition to 214 buildings of historical or artistic interest, 31 museums, 32 monuments, 15 libraries and 1 archive.

In response UNESCO declared that it “Firmly condemns all attacks against cultural property protected under international law.”