Solutions to win: Ukrainians recycle 11 tons of Russian books to raise money for air defense

Volunteers from Ukraine's central city of Dnipro collected 11 tons of Russian-language books to support the Ukrainian Air Force.

All this is part of the "Eyes for the Night" campaign, which is aimed to raise money for air defense, says its coordinator Pavlo Medvid.

What is the problem?

In June, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law that bans the import or distribution of books published in Russia or Belarus, as well as those printed in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The ban also applies to books by authors with Russian citizenship.

For many people, reading Russian books has become impossible, something alien, unacceptable. You will not be able to read them anymore, no educated and highly moral person will allow himself to throw away a book, the Kyiv bookstore "Shining of the Book" explains.

This decision boosted the efforts of Ukrainians to donate old Soviet or Russian books to the stores for recycling.

What is the solution?

The head of the charity fund says books, manuals, and newspapers that are sent to the volunteers of the institution and brought by the citizens of Dnipro are recycled.

How does it work?

All raised funds, which is about $1,500, have already been used to buy four powerful flashlights to help the Ukrainian military detect Russian drones.

People are motivated by the fact that the money is going to this particular goal, says Medved.

Photo: Radio Liberty

One of the project institutes donated 500 kilograms of its archival products to the hosts, and one of Dnipro residents donated almost as much old Russian-language newspapers.

We collect only Russian-language junk and hand it over for recycling. By the way, we received an encyclopedia published in 2014 in St. Petersburg, which is actively used in Russian schools. There was no Ukraine on the map, as it was part of Russia, the volunteer added.

The hosts emphasized that one can bring them from one book to several bags. Everyone who joins the campaign receives a themed magnet.

Ukrainian schoolers from the frontline town of Kurakhove in the Donetsk region opened a library on their own to preserve literature that endured centuries of Russia's wipeouts.

This year, 2023, marks a significant milestone in de-Russifying the book publishing industry, with the highest ever amount of Ukrainian–language publications put out in the first half of the year.