Ukrainian publisher mourns human toll of Russian attack

Sergii Polituchyi, Ukrainian publisher and businessman, shows an example of a book for kids at his printing house, which was badly damaged by a recent Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine May 26, 2024. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) - Sergii Polituchyi arrived at his burning printing house before the firefighters, and the agony and destruction caused by the mid-morning Russian missile attack is seared into his mind.

"That smell, that sight - it is still in my head, in my heart," said the 70-year-old founder of the Faktor company, the biggest printer in Ukraine and a key part of its publishing industry. "It is the most awful consequence of war."