Ukrainian schoolchildren hunt for Russian books to recycle them

In the midst of conflict, Ukraine is trying to get rid of the linguistic domination long imposed by Russia. In the west of the country, schoolchildren want to recycle as many books written in Russian as possible, in order to support the war effort.

In Truskavets, a small spa town in the Carpathians in western Ukraine, three schools compete with one goal : collect as much paper as possible for recycling in four days, preferably printed in Russian. The operation, which aims to support the Ukrainian army, has been soberly named “Enemy literature against drones”. “We started collecting used paper, but the first day we didn’t find muchsays a young man. A few books, old notebooks and boxes… But we didn’t give up !”

“The following days, we visited every possible place in our city, the stores, the post offices, and the libraries of the health centers”, continues his companion. Danylo and Anna are part of the winning class, thanks to two and a half tons of papers collected, including a good portion of Russian works. “We freed our libraries from Russian literature, that makes room for our Ukrainian authors and books !”rejoices a young girl. “The Russians are destroying our country, they are killing our citizens, razing our cities. We will lose nothing by throwing away their books and never reading them again”supports another.

Even literature professor Lesya Kravtchouk took the opportunity to clean out her library. She has read the Russian classics and studied them, she can still quote them off the top of her head, but now it’s war. “It was painful of course, she confides, but the most painful thing is when our invaders occupy our cities. The first thing they do is burn our books, our history, and everything related to Ukrainian identity. It hurts”.

A cultural and linguistic war

The operation was proposed to the Truskavets schools by a group of volunteers including Yvan Jouk, also convinced that it is a cultural and linguistic war between Russians and Ukrainians.

“This action was symbolic of the fact that you can defeat the enemy with your own weapons.”

A volunteer at the origin of the “Enemy literature against drones” operation

at franceinfo

“Russian literature has always been a weapon to dominate usdenounces Yvan Jouk. We turned the enemy’s weapon against him, transforming it into drones.” Upon arrival, two attack drones were purchased and offered to the Ukrainian army for 12 tons of paper collected, which a local company recycled… into toilet paper.