Incinerated novels and destroyed warehouses: Russia’s war on Ukrainian books
A Ukrainian publishing boom sparked by the 2022 invasion is now under threat from the force and frequency of Russian attacksOn a Saturday morning in August, Viktor Kruglov, the co-founder and chief executive of the publisher Ranok, was at his headquarters in Kharkiv – the eastern Ukrainian city that, along with Kyiv, is the centre of the country’s publishing and printing industry. Built 15 years ago on the site of a former bread factory, the footprint of the premises is about 10,000 sq metres (107,640ft). Books were stacked 12 metres high on rank after rank of shelves.Kruglov, along with five senior colleagues, were on the warehouse floor to discuss the approaching school year. The warehouse was holding 628,000 new schoolbooks. “It was the high season of distribution,” he said, “so we were checking all our processes: how to do it more successfully, how to do it in time.” Continue reading...
Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv to increase oil refinery attacks because of Moscow’s winter strategy, Zelenskyy says
Kyiv working on better jamming capabilities, interceptors for Shahed drones and ballistic missiles that can reach Moscow. What we know on day 1,684Ukraine will increase its attacks on Russian oil refineries, but won’t target civilians, because of a new policy of airstrikes by Moscow designed to force people to abandon Kyiv and other cities, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Ukraine’s intelligence service has obtained documents showing the Russian ruler, Vladimir Putin, has issued a new doctrine of military attacks on a much broader range of civilian targets ahead of winter, Ukraine’s president told Reuters. “We saw documents and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals,” he said. “To pressure people to leave the capital, leave different cities: this is the goal of the operation.”“We have to respond in any way [we can]. With their attacks on our energy, we have to respond on their energy. First of all, oil refiners: what gives money to them for this war,” Zelenskyy said. “But we will not respond, of course … on any civilian objects.” Russian attacks on Saturday in Ukraine killed at least six people and damaged Kyiv’s Northern Bridge, disrupting traffic for a third day in Moscow’s latest effort to complicate life in the Ukrainian capital. Previously, it has hit apartment blocks, supermarket warehouses, gas stations, datacentres and other civilian targets.A continuing Ukrainian counteroffensive dubbed Vivaldi had recaptured about 140 sq km (54 sq miles) of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, Zelenskyy told Reuters. It is a setback for Putin who wants Russia to completely control the Donbas before agreeing to any peace deal. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was working to offset low supplies of ammunition for its fighter aircraft – F-16s and MiGs – that bring down about 60% of the Russian jet-powered drones. He said Ukraine was working to boost its jamming capabilities; and in the second half of October it would receive a first shipment of small, cheap air defence missiles capable of hitting new jet-powered Shahed drones. Ukraine had begun to deploy its own domestically made ballistic missile – the FP-7, which has a range of about 250km (155 miles), said Zelenskyy. It hoped to have a longer-range model, the FP-9, ready by autumn.Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, arrived in Kyiv on Sunday accompanied by CEOs from German defence companies in a show of support for Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid increased Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities. “I travelled to Kyiv today because Ukraine needs all our support in the coming weeks,” Merz said, saying that Russian forces were bombings towns, residential buildings and heating plants. “If Russia is not stopped, sooner or later its war machine will turn against us … I will tell President Zelenskyy today: you can continue to count on our help.”Exit polls from Latvia’s parliamentary election published on Saturday night favoured prime minister Andris Kulbergs’s centrist, pro-Ukraine United List party, suggesting the country will maintain its pro-European and pro-Ukrainian course. But populist parties also had a good night after an election campaign dominated by fears about neighbouring Russia and the cost of living at home. With 72% of ballots counted, United List was on 36.5%, followed by the populist, Maga-style Latvia First on 13.0%. Kulbergs told journalists his party would not cooperate with any parties that were pro-Russian: “Our strong position is that any economic ties with Russia makes us weak; Russia would exploit this.”Baltic countries have warned for months that Russia is mounting sabotage, cyber and other hybrid attacks across Europe to erode support for Ukraine and sow fear, although some western officials doubt it is capable of launching a direct assault on Nato, of which Latvia is a member. Throughout his campaign, Kulbergs promised more anti-drone capabilities for Latvia and to maintain defence spending at 5% of gross domestic product, one of the highest levels in Nato. His pro-Kremlin rivals said Latvia should stop any aid to Ukraine and instead focus more on cost-of-living issues, particularly among the country’s Russian-speaking minority. Continue reading...
