Ukrainian schools have received 88% of the planned print run of textbooks for ninth graders, despite Russian missile strikes on printing enterprises destroying 1.2 million already-printed books. This was announced by Serhiy Babak, head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science and Innovation, in his Telegram channel, as cited by RBC-Ukraine. Full restoration of the lost print run and completion of re-printing is planned by 5 October 2026.
Scale of destruction and financial losses
According to Babak, Russian missile attacks on printing enterprises on 19 July and 1 August 2026 destroyed 1.2 million textbooks that had already been published and were ready for dispatch to schools. This accounts for 8.9% of the entire planned print run. About 70% of the losses fell specifically on textbooks for the 9th grade. The total value of the destroyed books is estimated at nearly 145 million hryvnia. By 15 September, 40.4% of the lost print run had been restored, and re-printing is scheduled to be completed by 5 October.
Delivery timelines by grade
In 2026, 118 titles of textbooks with a total print run of 8.9 million copies were planned for ninth graders. As of 1 September, 117 titles had been published, and 75.9% of the print run had been delivered to schools. Up-to-date data as of 15 September shows the figure rising to 88%. It is expected that within the next month all 9th-grade textbooks will reach educational institutions. The situation for other grades is significantly worse: of the 59 textbook titles for the 4th grade, only 6.55% of the print run has reached schools, and delivery has not yet begun for certain 6th–7th grade editions and books for children with special educational needs. Editions for grades 4, 6 and 7 are planned to be delivered by the end of November, while textbooks for children with special needs, as the deputy notes, traditionally arrive only at the end of the school year.
Compensation to publishers and funding searches
Babak emphasized that a mechanism for compensating publishers from the state budget has not yet been established. The Ministry of Education, together with international partners, has already secured about 13 million hryvnia for the re-issue of the destroyed print runs and continues to seek additional funding. In addition, the Committee is preparing an experimental program to support book publishing through the replenishment of school libraries, a decision on which the government may adopt in the near future. The deputy also noted that, due to the consequences of the missile attacks, delivery timelines this year will be longer than usual.
Context: systematic strikes on publishing infrastructure
The destruction of 1.2 million textbooks is not an isolated incident. It was previously reported that in the summer of 2026 Russia destroyed nearly half of the annual book output in Ukraine. According to preliminary estimates, total losses may amount to 15 million copies, and 9% of new school textbooks burned as a result of the attacks. Regular shelling of publishing houses, warehouses and logistics chains is turning into a systemic threat to the educational process, forcing the state and the international community to seek emergency recovery mechanisms.
