This is reported by the Mariupol City Council.
"Before the full-scale invasion, the library fund of Mariupol had 360,000 books. According to preliminary information, 50% of the books were burned during the shelling or liquidated as 'extremist'" the statement says.
Photo: Mariupol City Council
According to the city council, four libraries are destroyed or critically damaged. In the surviving ones, the invading forces bring literature from Russia and change the names.
Back in February 2023, it was reported that Russians in the temporarily occupied territories were confiscating Ukrainian books from public and school libraries and burning them in boiler rooms.