Over 44% of Ukrainian school textbooks destroyed by Russia have been reprinted

More than 44% of the school textbooks destroyed by Russian attacks have already been replaced. However, for the moment, publishers are reprinting books at their own expense.

Source: Education and Science Minister Andrii Butenko during a meeting of the parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Innovation

Details: According to the Education Ministry plan, the books were to have been delivered to educational institutions in two batches. Most of the books (90%) had been due to be delivered by 1 September and the rest by 1 October.

Butenko noted that the Russians' massive attacks on publishers' warehouses in summer 2026 destroyed several batches of school textbooks that had been awaiting delivery. Copies were lost in both batches, which had been due to reach pupils a month apart.

As of 16 September, 88.6% of the textbooks from the first batch have been delivered to schools – around 10% were lost in the attacks.

A further 3% of textbooks were not destroyed, but are still in the process of being delivered due to logistical problems. Schools have received 7% of the textbooks from the second batch.

Quote from Butenko: "The Ministry of Education and Science is currently working with our international counterparts and organisations supporting Ukraine to compensate publishers for the cost of the 10% of textbooks that were destroyed by the Russians.

Legally, we cannot pay for them a second time from the state budget due to legislative safeguards against duplicate payments."

Details: The ministry has now reached an agreement with UNICEF to provide around US$300,000 in compensation, which Butenko said will cover most of the publishers' losses.

However, Serhii Babak, chair of the committee, said that publishers lost a significantly larger sum – around UAH 150 million (US$3.3 million) – from the destruction of school textbooks.

Yevhen Bazhenkov, head of the Institute for Educational Content Modernisation, added that negotiations with international partners, including the World Bank, are ongoing.

Publishers are currently reprinting the textbooks lost in the attacks.

"All the main groups of textbook print runs are currently being reprinted," Butenko said.

Background: Almost 1.2 million school textbooks were destroyed by Russian attacks on printing companies and logistics warehouses. Textbooks for fourth- and ninth-grade students (aged 9-10 and 14-15 respectively) were the worst affected.

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