Russia leaves almost 1,000 libraries across Ukraine destroyed or damaged

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the enemy destroyed or damaged almost a thousand libraries home to more than 200 million Ukrainian books.

This was stated by Taras Kremin, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, Ukrinform reports.

On All-Ukrainian Library Day, Kremin called for a joint effort to restore destroyed library funds and to support the "Free People Read in Ukrainian!" project he had initiated. Thanks to the project, the renovation of libraries continues and books are purchased for bomb shelters in Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions.

Art and educational facilities devastated by the Russians need art, educational, and historical literature, Kremin emphasized.

According to his data, since the full-scale invasion, the Russians have destroyed or damaged almost a thousand libraries, and along with them – over 200 million Ukrainian books.

"Our goal is to renew library funds as much as possible and to set it as a government priority," Kremin emphasized.

He expressed special thanks to the libraries that joined the development of the network of training courses on mastering the Ukrainian language.

"By creating better conditions for the development, comprehensive functioning and popularization of the Ukrainian language as the state one, we strengthen our unity and national security," the language ombudsman noted.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, September 30 marks All-Ukrainian Library Day.