Russian forces hit Vivat publishing house in Kharkiv

The Russians struck a printing house of local publishing house Vivat during a large-scale attack on Kharkiv on Thursday, 23 May.

The Russians targeted the transport infrastructure, a municipal company and the civilian company engaged in printing. The paper shop has caught fire.

Vivat director Yuliia Orlova confirmed that the incident happened at their publishing house.

"Yes, this is our printing house. It's on fire now. Rubble is being cleared, and people are being rescued," Orlova said.

At present, it is impossible to establish the whereabouts of some people due to the large fire.

"A printing house has been hit in Kharkiv. There are casualties and fatalities. Stay strong, Vivat. Dear Facebook readers, now is the time to support the publishing house by ordering their books," said writer Dariia Piskozub, whose books are published by Vivat.

Oleh Syniehubov, the Head of Kharkiv Oblast State Administration, reported that the Russians had struck the city at least 15 times. As of 12:27, six people have been reportedly killed in the attack.

Founded in 2013, Vivat publishing house specialises in publishing bestselling books in Ukrainian. It publishes books by such Ukrainian writers as Dara Kornii, Andrii Kokotiukha, Artem Chekh, Vakhtang Kipiani, Nadiia Herbish, Halyna Kruk, Mark Livin, Oksana Moroz, and others.

The main areas of the publishing House's activity are non-fiction, fiction, children's and teenage literature.

It cooperates with world-renowned publishers, such as Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan Publishers.

Based on the statistics of the Ukrainian Chamber of Books, Vivat has been one of the three largest Ukrainian publishing houses in terms of the number of items published and circulation in recent years.

Not the first attack on Kharkiv printing houses

On 20 March, the Kharkiv-based Hurov&K printing house burned down as Kh-35, a Russian anti-ship missile, hit the city’s industrial zone. This printing house published books from such publishing houses as Chas Maistriv (Time of Masters) and Crocus, publishing house Shkola (School), and it also released Dodo puzzles.

The Aurora printing house, located in the same building on the floor below, has also been utterly destroyed.

Earlier, the Budynok Druku (House of Printing) had previously suffered from Russian attacks on Kharkiv.

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