Sad Update: Damaged and Destroyed Libraries in Ukraine War
A few days ago, on February 24, 2025, it was the third anniversary of the start of the war. So here is my attempt to find out more recent numbers about damaged libraries.
Till August 2022, I had tried to compile which libraries had been damaged or even destroyed in the Ukraine war. The original main source of information (List of Recorded war crimes) ended in mid-November 2022, so I didn’t get any further there.
I found some more up-to-date numbers in the magazine CHYTOMO from 07/25/2025. The author Daryna Holovan mentions 138 destroyed and 577 damaged libraries, including the Yaroslav the Wise National Library of Ukraine, which was damaged in a Russian missile attack on June 8, 2024.
A CHYTOMO’s article from 03/04/2025 even reports that 790 libraries have now been damaged.
Sources:
- Holovan, Daryna: Russia damages over 700 Ukrainian libraries in under two and a half years, CHYTOMO (07/25/2025)
- The winter Ukraine endured: almost 800 libraries, bookstores, and former Pushkin Museum damaged, CHYTOMO (03/04/2025)
Further articles:
- Barkhush, Amira: Russia Destroys and Damages Almost 1000 Ukrainian Libraries Since Beginning of Full-Scale Invasion, United24Media (09/30/2024)
- Damaged cultural sites in Ukraine verified by UNESCO, UNESCO (02/19/2025, Last Update 02/28/2025)
