Solutions from Ukraine: virtual flash mob unites in solidarity with devastated Vivat Publishing house after Russian missile attack

An online announcement was made for a flash mob in support of the Vivat publishing house, which was affected by the Russian strikes in Kharkiv.

The publishing house announced this on social media on Thursday, May 23.

What is the problem?

On the morning of May 23, the Russians shelled Kharkiv en masse.

According to Oleh Synehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, the recent shelling only damaged civilian infrastructure. One notable instance was the targeting of a civilian-owned printing company, Factor Druk.

This is one of the largest printing facilities in Europe, providing end-to-end services. It is responsible for printing books for the majority of Ukrainian publishing companies. The Factor-Druk holding includes the Vivat Publishing House and Vivat bookstores.

"This is one of the largest full-cycle printing complexes in Europe, so not only Vivat publishing house books are printed there, but also practically all Ukrainian publishing houses," the message reads.

Equipment worth 3-4 million euros burned, and the printing press is now practically unusable. Serhii Polituchyi, the owner of Faktor Group of Companies, sees this as a tragedy not just for the printing company but for the publishing industry as a whole.

Seven employees of the company have been reported dead, and sixteen others have been injured.

As a result of the Russian strike, 50,000 books were burned in the destroyed printing house.

According to the head of state, Volodymyr Zelensky, this demonstrates that Russia "is at war with humanity and all aspects of normal life."

What is the solution?

A flash mob was announced on the network to support the Vivat publishing house, which suffered from the Russian strikes on Kharkiv.

How does it work?

Vivat encouraged people to support typography by photographing the books and posting them on social networks with the hashtag #factorprint.

Ukrainians and the ambassadors of Great Britain and Germany were highly involved in this flash mob.

Thus, the British ambassador Martin Harris explained to his subscribers that Russian missiles hit the printing house that prints books for the Vivat publishing house, and the Ukrainians then organized a flash mob of support.

"Ukrainians today are buying books (from publishing houses) in response, and so am I. Vivat Vivat!", "European Pravda" quotes Harris.

He showed his three purchased copies. The ambassador, by the way, is fluent in Ukrainian.

^{British Ambassador Martin Harris}The German Ambassador, Martin Jäger, recently shared a brief post titled "Vivat Kharkiv" and also shared a post by journalist Khrystyna Berdynskykh. In her post, Berdynskykh recalls that this same publishing house released the diary of the writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was killed by Russian forces during their occupation. The diary was discovered by poet Victoria Amelina, who later was later killed in a rocket attack in Kramatorsk.

Ambassador of Austria Arad Benkö also told subscribers about the impact of Russian rockets on the printing house.

Several Western experts and journalists also joined the flash mob of solidarity with the publishing house.

For reference:

It is important to mention that Ukrainians who have turned 18 will have the opportunity to obtain government assistance for buying book publications in the national language.