---
title: "1.2 million textbooks destroyed in strikes on printing houses: Ukraine's Ministry of Education explains how schools will start the academic year and when print runs will be produced"
description: "Ukraine's Ministry of Education confirmed: due to strikes on printing houses and warehouses, more than 1.2 million textbooks worth 120–150 million hryvnia have been destroyed. By September 1, some schools will switch to electronic and PDF versions, and the new runs will be delivered by November 1, 2026."
date: 2026-08-25T00:17:40.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/1-2-million-textbooks-destroyed-strikes-on-printing-houses-ukraine
tags: [ukraine, education, textbooks, war, mon-ukraine]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# 1.2 million textbooks destroyed in strikes on printing houses: Ukraine's Ministry of Education explains how schools will start the academic year and when print runs will be produced

![Infographic: 1.2 million textbooks destroyed in strikes on Ukraine's print shops and the shift to interactive digital lessons, per the Ministry of Education](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/25/unichtozhenie-1-2-mln-uchebnikov-udar-po-tipografiam-ukraina/unichtozhenie-1-2-mln-uchebnikov-udar-po-tipografiam-ukraina-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- Due to missile and drone strikes on printing houses and warehouses, more than 1.2 million finished school textbooks have been destroyed, with the damage estimated at 120–150 million hryvnia.
- It is impossible to print all the runs by September 1; schools will switch to a hybrid format: stocks from previous years plus 100% coverage with electronic and PDF versions.
- Reprinting has already been launched, and the restored paper runs will be delivered in stages by November 1, 2026, with priority given to frontline and rural schools.

Some Ukrainian schoolchildren will start the new academic year without printed books. Ukraine's Minister of Education and Science, Andrii Butenko, officially confirmed that, due to a series of targeted missile and drone strikes on printing houses and logistics warehouses, it is physically impossible to finish printing the runs by September 1. The relevant ministry is urgently switching schools to a hybrid format of material provision: no student will be left without learning resources, and the missing printed books will be replaced with electronic versions and PDF copies available in the open domain.

### Scale of the losses: burned runs and damage assessment

The crisis over teaching materials grew throughout the summer of 2026. As a result of massive attacks on the publishing infrastructure — in particular, on the facilities of "Konvi," the warehouses of "Megapolisgraph," and other book-printing complexes in July–August — warehouses of finished products and hundreds of thousands of blanks burned to the ground. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, more than 1.2 million copies of books that had already been packaged and prepared for shipment to the regions have been destroyed.

The industry's direct financial losses, according to the Ministry's estimates, amount to 120–150 million hryvnia — this is the cost of urgently reprinting the lost runs. The government is negotiating support for the affected publishers in order to restore the production chains within a shortened timeframe.

### How children will study from September 1

Despite the shortage of new physical books, the ministry emphasizes that the educational process will not be disrupted. A multi-component provision plan has been developed. First, schools will temporarily use the surviving stocks of textbooks from previous years, whose service life is 4–5 years. Second, all required textbooks, including the NUSH standards for grades 4 and 9, have been fully published in the open domain in electronic (PDF) format — free digital access is guaranteed for every student.

When distributing the first new paper batches, priority is given to frontline communities and rural schools with weak internet connectivity, so that printed books appear first precisely where digital access is limited. For Ukrainian children abroad, the digital format will become the main tool for studying the Ukrainian studies component — language, literature, and history.

### Reprinting and delivery schedule

The process of urgently reprinting the lost runs at the surviving production facilities has already been launched. However, logistics chains and a paper shortage make it impossible to issue the books instantly. According to the Ministry's schedule, the restored print runs will be delivered to educational institutions in stages — during September and October, and the situation is planned to be stabilized and the printed paper textbooks fully delivered to all educational institutions by November 1, 2026.

### Analytical summary

The strikes on the book-printing infrastructure aimed to create humanitarian chaos before the start of the academic year. At the same time, the digitalization of Ukrainian education, tested over the previous years, allows this blow to be quickly cushioned. The main challenges for the Ministry over the next two months will not be the absence of materials as such, but the technical provision of children with gadgets in frontline regions and the energy resilience of schools for working with interactive devices amid power outages.

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [Not all textbooks will be printed by September 1: how schoolchildren will study](https://news.telegraf.com.ua/ukraina/5948473-ne-vsi-pidruchniki-vstignut-nadrukuvati-do-1-veresnya-yak-navchatimutsya-shkolyari) - Подтверждает заявление МОН о невозможности напечатать часть тиражей к 1 сентября и гибридном формате обеспечения.
- [Textbooks in Ukraine will not be printed in time for September 1](https://theotherukraine.info/2026/08/24/uchebniki-na-ukraine-ne-uspeyut-napechatat-k-1-sentyabrya/) - Совпадает по срокам и сути: задержка печати из-за ударов по издательской инфраструктуре.
- [Russians burned Ukrainian textbooks: some will not arrive by September 1](https://focus.ua/ukraine/765590-rossiyane-sozhgli-ukrainskie-uchebniki-chast-ne-postupit-do-1-sentyabrya) - Подтверждает причину задержки — уничтожение тиражей в результате ударов по складам и типографиям.

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: Why will some textbooks not be printed in time for September 1?
**A:** The reason is a series of targeted strikes on printing houses and logistics warehouses in July–August 2026, as a result of which more than 1.2 million finished textbooks were destroyed. The production facilities have been damaged, so it is physically impossible to print all the runs by the start of the academic year.

### Q: Will children be left without learning materials?
**A:** No. Schools are using the surviving stocks of textbooks from previous years, and all required textbooks, including the NUSH standards, have been published in the open domain in electronic and PDF format. The missing printed books will be delivered in stages by November 1, 2026.

### Q: When will schools receive the new paper textbooks?
**A:** Reprinting has already been launched. The restored runs will be delivered to educational institutions in stages during September and October, and full delivery to all educational institutions is scheduled by November 1, 2026. Priority in distributing the first batches is given to frontline communities and rural schools with weak internet connectivity.