The United States plans to pick up the slack in producing elementary school textbooks in Ukraine as the country’s printing industry continues to suffer in the war with Russia.
“Russia is waging a war not just against the Ukrainian military, but also against the Ukrainian people,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a June 24 statement.
Mr. Sullivan said some of these Russian attacks have manifested in the form of strikes targeting printing presses throughout Ukraine, including the Faktor-Druk printing house in Kharkiv, which he described as one of the largest printing houses in all of Europe. The Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine has been a focal point for renewed fighting in recent weeks.
“Kharkiv’s printing houses produce a significant percentage of all books in Ukraine, including textbooks for Ukrainian children. By striking these printing houses, Russia is attacking Ukraine’s education system. We will not let Russia succeed,” Mr. Sullivan said.
The White House official said the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will assist Ukraine in printing more than 3 million textbooks for elementary school students in the country ahead of the next school year. Mr. Sullivan said this textbook production effort will take place inside Ukraine and that the finished books will be distributed to more than 12,000 schools around the country.
“Our message is clear: We will continue to stand with the Ukrainian people as they defend against Russia’s barbaric war of aggression,” Mr. Sullivan said.
He didn’t specify how much the textbook production run would cost, from where USAID would draw the funds, or where the new production efforts would take place to avoid additional disruptions from Russian attacks. The Epoch Times reached out to both the White House and USAID for further comment but didn’t receive a response from either by press time.
The U.S. government has designated some $173 billion for direct and indirect aid to Ukraine since Russian forces launched their large-scale military campaign there in February 2022, most recently allocating about $60 billion for Ukraine in a foreign aid supplemental that Congress passed in April. While much of the U.S. support for Ukraine has been in the form of shipments of weapons, ammunition, and other military equipment to assist in the fighting, Ukraine also has received humanitarian aid and direct financial support.
