Serhiy Polituchy, owner of Factor-Druk, whose printing plant was destroyed by rocket fire in Kharkiv on 23 May, said that it would be impossible to resume production without the support of the government and the international community.
The destruction of the printing house in Kharkiv will affect the entire book publishing industry of Ukraine
The owner of the Faktor-Druk printing plant, Serhiy Polituchy, said that the destruction of the printing plant in Kharkiv by the Russian attack will affect the entire book publishing industry.
He said this on Radio Svoboda.
According to him, this attack of the Russian Federation will have consequences for the entire branch of book publishing in Ukraine, because due to the security and energy situation in Kharkiv, local printing houses were not working at full capacity and did not meet the needs of all publishing houses.
A situation arose when all the combined capacities of Ukrainian printing houses could no longer meet the needs of publishing houses. With the destruction of our printing house, the total capacity will decrease by at least 30-40%. And thus, the very process of printing books, including the textbooks that we printed, probably up to 50% of all textbooks that were printed in the state. How we will do it tomorrow, I don't know at the moment. And I understand that without the support of the international community and the state, it will be very difficult to solve this issue.
However, the restoration of the printing house even with help can take a long time — at least several months, according to the owner of Faktor-Druk.
Commenting on the possibility of moving the printing house to safer regions of Ukraine, Polituchy explains that this process is very expensive. In addition, according to him, in other regions of Ukraine, such enterprises may experience a lack of industry specialists.
Most printing facilities are concentrated in Kharkiv. I don't know for sure, but if we are talking about book printing, I think that at least 85-90% of all books printed in Ukraine are printed in Kharkiv. [Books are also printed] at our printing house, as well as at our partners, at our colleagues in the industry. Even if we moved with someone's help to Lviv, for example, or to Ivano-Frankivsk, we would face the problem of people. Not all people would like to move to these regions. But it is almost impossible to find specialists in these regions.
The printing house was destroyed and 50,000 books were burned — Zelenskyi
Commenting on yesterday's Russian attack on the Kharkiv region, the President of Ukraine emphasised that people were killed and wounded.
Russian terrorists are killing adults and children, destroying cities and villages, leaving scorched spots where normal life once was.
Volodymyr Zelenskyi
President of Ukraine
He also announced how many books were destroyed as a result of the missile strike on May 23.
Yesterday's attack by Russia on the Kharkiv region, as a result of which people were killed and injured, a printing house was destroyed and 50 thousand books were burned, demonstrates that Russia is at war with humanity and all aspects of normal life.
He added that Russian terror must be defeated, and only one thing is needed for this — "the determination of world leaders".
On May 23, Russia launched a missile attack on Kharkiv, hitting one of the largest printing houses in Europe, Faktor-Druk, where books of almost all Ukrainian publishing houses are printed. As a result of this strike, 7 people died, 21 more were injured.
Faktor-Druk is a printing house that is part of the "Faktor" group of companies. The Vivat Publishing House and the Vivat Bookstores are also part of the holding, but the printing house also produced books for other publishers. The "Family Leisure Club" publishing house also confirmed that it prints many of its books in Faktor-Druk. The British ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris, reacted to the Russian attack on the printing house. He said that Ukrainians buy his books to support the publishing house. Martin Harris also joined the impromptu action.
In the afternoon of May 23, a series of explosions rang out in Kharkiv and the region. As a result, people were killed and injured. As of 12:50 p.m., 6 dead and 16 wounded are known. The enemy made at least 15 strikes on the city, previously with S-300 missiles.
The "Renaissance" International Foundation announced that it has decided to provide an urgent grant from reserve funds to the printing house of the Vivat publishing house in Kharkiv.
Zelenskyy visited the printing house in Kharkiv destroyed by the Russian attack
On May 24, the President of Ukraine arrived in Kharkiv, where he held a meeting and visited the Factor-Druk PC destroyed by a Russian missile strike.
Yesterday, seven people were killed here as a result of a Russian missile attack. My condolences to family and friends. Another 21 people were injured. The production complex was destroyed, tens of thousands of books were burned by this blow. A lot of children's literature, study guides, textbooks...
Russian terror must never go unpunished. We are doing step by step so that the Russian state feels the consequences and the price of its evil.
Thanks to everyone who helps our people! Thank you to everyone who protects Ukraine!
