The Kyiv-based publisher A-Ba-Ba-Ga-La-Ma-Ga, whose book warehouse was destroyed in a Russian attack on the night of August 28, 2026, has found a new premises to operate from. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing the publisher's official statement on Instagram. The team is already actively stocking the new space with books and expresses hope of resuming order shipments to readers as early as next week. "We have found a new warehouse and are actively preparing and stocking it with books right now. We hope to start shipping orders again from next week," the publisher stated.
Chronicle of Destruction: From BookChef to A-Ba-Ba-Ga-La-Ma-Ga
The destruction of the A-Ba-Ba-Ga-La-Ma-Ga warehouse was part of a systematic series of attacks on Ukraine's book logistics. On the night of July 2, 2026, Russian strikes destroyed the central warehouse of the publisher's logistics partner, BookChef, burning approximately 800,000 books. Just a month later, on August 5, a similar attack destroyed another BookChef warehouse, with losses exceeding 100,000 copies. Thus, in less than two months, Ukraine's book industry lost millions of copies, threatening not only individual publishers but the entire supply chain of printed products.
Second Victim of the Same Night: Vivat Warehouse in Sviatopetrivske
On the same night of August 28, a warehouse in Sviatopetrivske, Kyiv Oblast, burned down, storing thousands of books from popular Ukrainian publishers. The fire destroyed the output of the Vivat publisher, as well as goods from the Readeat and Book.ua bookstores, whose logistics were concentrated at this facility. Vivat promptly stated that it does not intend to halt operations: offline bookstores continue to function, and e-books and audiobooks remain available for online order. Nevertheless, the physical loss of printed runs means that restoring the retail assortment will take considerable time.
Post Deletion and a Wave of Reader Support
After the announcement of the warehouse's destruction, readers massed in the Instagram comments with words of support and shared personal memories of A-Ba-Ba-Ga-La-Ma-Ga books. However, according to the publisher's own team, the platform subsequently deleted the original post, and with it all user comments disappeared. This circumstance added an element of additional vulnerability to the situation: the public response of the audience, which could have become an important social resource during the crisis, was effectively erased. Despite this, the publisher emphasized that it thanks everyone who has ordered, is ordering, and will order its books, calling such support "very important."
Authorities' Reaction and Recovery Prospects
Against the backdrop of repeated attacks on book infrastructure, Kyiv authorities stated their intention to provide additional protection to the publisher. As Focus reported, citing city administration representative Novokhatsko, city structures will assist in protecting book industry facilities. For A-Ba-Ba-Ga-La-Ma-Ga, the key factor now is the speed of preparing the new warehouse: if logistics and stocking are completed on schedule, order shipments will resume as early as next week. Nevertheless, fully restoring the lost assortment and rebuilding trust in delivery times will take considerably longer than a single week.
Contradictory Data
No significant discrepancies in dates or figures were found in the provided sources: all three sources (RBC-Ukraine, 24tv, Focus) agree that the warehouse was destroyed on the night of August 28, 2026, and that the publisher is finding new premises. The only difference concerns emphasis: RBC-Ukraine and 24tv focus on the operational aspect (searching for a warehouse, shipping timelines), while Focus raises the question of state protection. At the same time, the exact scale of A-Ba-Ba-Ga-La-Ma-Ga's losses in books and material assets is not disclosed in open sources, leaving room for uncertainty in assessing the scale of the damage.
