How literature and libraries are helping defend Ukraine

In Ukraine, no one is insulated from the realities of the Russian invasion.

And that includes librarians.

NPR reports that Ukrainian libraries continue to be a valuable resource for their communities.

Like in peacetime, they're a safe place for those in danger — but rather than extreme cold, it's bombs and their aftermath that residents are fleeing.

And they're still a place of learning, though now, those lessons include how to travel to safety, how to weave camouflage nets, and how to provide home care, along with the traditional role of providing literature and helping fight disinformation.

And the Guardian also called attention to the power of books in wartime Ukraine.

A government agency had offered "culture vouchers" as incentives to receive a COVID vaccination, and Ukrainians spent over 1 billion hryvnias (over $34 million) on books.

That reading material hasn't simply provided a brief escape from war — it has actually been serving, in some places in Kyiv, as physical protection.

One such book prominently displayed? The collected works of Russian artist Ilya Glazunov, who publicly supported Vladimir Putin and painted pictures praising Russia.

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