Ukrainian publisher mourns human toll of Russian attack
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[May 28, 2024]
By Max Hunder
KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) - Sergii Polituchyi arrived at his burning
printing house before the firefighters, and the agony and destruction
caused by the mid-morning Russian missile attack is seared into his
mind.
"That smell, that sight - it is still in my head, in my heart," said the
70-year-old founder of the Faktor company, the biggest printer in
Ukraine and a key part of its publishing industry. "It is the most awful
consequence of war."
The attack last Thursday killed seven employees and wounded 16 others at
the company, which he said accounted for 40% of Ukraine's printing
capacity and produced almost half of its educational textbooks.
Traces of blood are still visible on the floors and walls of the vast
building, where Polituchyi spoke surrounded by hundreds of burnt copies
of novels and children's books – some of the 600 titles printed every
year by the company he set up 28 years ago.
"This has wiped out my entire past life. It has rendered all those years
of mine and my team's hard work meaningless," he said. "It is not only
printing and book production that are under threat ... but the entire
(publishing) industry."
The bombing was one of several deadly strikes by Moscow in recent weeks
on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city which is known for its
universities and is a centre for publishing. A Russian strike on a
crowded DIY hardware store on Saturday killed 16 people and wounded
dozens more.
Russian forces, which have launched a new offensive north of the city,
are now about 20 km (12.5 miles) from Kharkiv's ring road, bringing back
memories of their attempts to reach the city in 2022.
Moscow says it does not target civilians in what it portrays as a war to
demilitarise Ukraine. The Kharkiv regional governor said there were no
military facilities anywhere near the printing house.
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Burnt books are seen inside the printing house of Ukrainian
publisher and businessman Sergii Polituchyi, which was badly damaged
by a recent Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine,
in Kharkiv, Ukraine May 26, 2024. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Polituchyi was born to a Ukrainian family in Russia and lived there
for 26 years, but he spoke in Ukrainian. He said his printing house
stopped publishing books in Russian after 2014, when Russia annexed
Crimea, even though it meant significant lost revenues.
His life would now be dedicated to rebuilding his business, he said,
and he was hopeful of receiving funds from Ukraine's government or
foreign donors.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the printing house after the
bombing, recording a video message to world leaders from the ruins.
"I see it as my mission to rebuild this enterprise specifically in
Kharkiv – because if we leave Kharkiv, what will (it) be left with
for tomorrow," Polituchyi said of the city.
It will not be easy, however. The missile caused more than 5 million
dollars worth of damage and some of the employees killed in the
strike had 20 years of experience. Polituchyi said finding people
with the same skills would be extremely difficult in a niche
industry like publishing.
"...with the help of people and the government, we are sure that we
will rebuild everything," he said. "But we won't be able to rebuild
the lives of those killed by the aggressor."
(Editing by Tom Balmforth and Philippa Fletcher)
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