Photos published on social networks and in Ukrainian media show scenes of devastation. A body with burnt skin, wounded evacuated, and in the background, all around, charred, blackened books, reduced to ashes by Russian strikes.
Friday May 24, the day after the bombing of one of the country’s largest printing works, in the city of Kharkiv, a wave of emotions shook the country at war for two and a half years. “Three Russian missiles destroyed the Faktor-Druk printing house where most Ukrainian books are printed while fifty printers and binders were working there, wrote writer Andrei Kurkov on the social network Printers and workers killed and injured, books burned. Welcome to the Russian world! »
President Volodymyr Zelensky, visiting the site on Friday to discuss the situation in the region targeted by a new Russian offensive since May 10, also visited the site. “The production complex was destroyed and tens of thousands of books were burned by this strike. Lots of children’s literature, school textbooks, can we read on his Telegram channel. Russian terror must never go unpunished. Step by step, we are ensuring that the Russian state feels the consequences and the price of its diabolism.”
For several weeks now, the country’s second largest city and the region have been the target of Russian drones, missiles and guided aerial bombs. These bombings have become almost daily since the start of a new offensive launched from the Russian border on the Kharkiv region, which has already forced thousands of people from border villages to leave their homes. Ukrainian authorities accuse Russia of wanting to create chaos in the pre-war city of 1.5 million inhabitants. On Friday, the army indicated that it had ” stopped “ the Russian assault and carry out “counter-offensive actions” in order to repel the troops from Moscow.
Destruction of Ukrainian cultural markers
According to the Ukrainian authorities, fifteen missiles struck the city and region of Kharkiv on the morning of Thursday, May 23, also hitting two other neighboring towns, causing around twenty injuries. Six other people were also injured in bombings on infrastructure of the Ukrzaliznytsia railway company.
The strike of three S-300 missiles on the printing house Faktor-Druk located in the Osnovyansky district killed seven people, five men and two women, all employees of the company, and left twenty injured, according to local authorities. Previously, on March 20, two other printing houses of smaller sizes, Gurov and K And Auroraalso located in Kharkiv, had already been the target of Russian strikes.
You have 50.91% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.