Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the KSE Foundation, the Ukrainian Book Institute, and the International Book Arsenal Festival, is shaping a grant scheme designed to assist Ukrainian publishers impacted by the ongoing conflict.
This initiative arrives in the wake of Russian bombardments that destroyed roughly 13 million Ukrainian books, amounting to about one-third of the total print run produced by Ukrainian publishers in 2025.
Officials agree that this book bombing constitutes part of Russia’s deliberate strategy to erode the country’s cultural heritage.
In this form of warfare, smaller institutions and independent presses are especially exposed, since they frequently lack the means to reprint titles that are lost.
A substantial number of these independent houses are also too small to qualify for state support under current funding rules, leaving many outfits in a difficult situation.
Against this backdrop, the ministry’s fresh grant program seeks to bolster tiny publishers, which Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Culture, Bohdana Laiuk, defines as presses producing up to twenty titles per year.
The fund will be administered by the KSE Foundation, and institutional grants will be allocated after a transparent open-call process that is scheduled to close by the end of this year. In an email, Laiuk indicated that up to twenty projects could receive support in the grant’s first round.
For publishers seeking assistance, the call for proposals is expected to be available in November, as the fund aims to reach a cap of $500,000. (But stay tuned for updates.)
Meanwhile, fundraising for the grant remains in progress. Prospective individual and corporate supporters can find more information—and contribute to the program—here.
Image via KSE Foundation
