Russian Strikes Hit Nova Poshta, Book Publishers, Distillery

Ukraine’s postal, publishing, alcohol, retail and energy sectors absorbed devastating Russian strikes overnight Aug. 27-28, as attacks hit two Nova Poshta sorting depots, burned down warehouses of several major book publishers and retailers, and heavily damaged a vodka distillery, a retail hypermarket and a solar equipment warehouse. In the last two days, strikes heavily affected the retail and logistics of almost all Ukraine’s trade industries, on top of Russia’s blocking of agro exports through the Black Sea corridor. JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest private delivery operator, wrote on Telegram that four KAB guided aerial bombs struck its terminal in Sumy overnight, damaging three trucks, while a Russian drone destroyed a separate sorting depot in Kyiv region. No employees were injured at either site, the company wrote. Nova Poshta said it would compensate clients for the declared value of damaged shipments and would contact each affected customer individually. The company wrote that it continues to operate despite the attacks, and that clients can track shipment statuses through its mobile app and website. Book warehouses burn across 42 Ukrainian publishing houses Russia hit a warehouse used by 42 Ukrainian publishing houses, according to information from the Urbino publishing house on Telegram. Russian forces also hit the warehouse of the book retailer Readeat, the company reported on Instagram. Other Topics of Interest US Renews ‘Do Not Travel’ Warning for Ukraine The US State Department has maintained its Level 4 travel advisory for Ukraine, updating risk information amid ongoing, indiscriminate Russian attacks. “Unfortunately, we are temporarily unable to ship orders from our online store. We need time to assess the consequences of the attack and figure out how to resume operations,” the post said. Readeat ranks sixth among Ukraine’s nine largest retailers, with its revenue topping Hr. 158 million ($3.5 million) as of the end of 2025 and reaching almost Hr. 41 million ($900,000) in the first quarter of 2026, Forbes.ua reported, citing YouControl. A combat drone strike in Kyiv burned down the warehouses of Vivat, a publishing house specializing in Ukrainian-language bestsellers, CEO Yuliya Orlova reported on Facebook. “We are still calculating the losses, as these are essentially burned books across three warehouses: ours and our partners,” she stated. A Russian drone attack burned down a warehouse belonging to Book.ua, a chain of bookstore-cafes, the company reported on its website. “We need time to assess the scale of the losses and calculate the damage. Therefore, we are temporarily unable to accept and ship online orders for physical books,” the statement says. Russian forces also hit a warehouse of the leading children’s book publisher, Ababahalamaha, the company reported on Instagram. “In the near future, there will be delays in shipping orders. Many of our beautiful books burned, resulting in huge financial losses,” the publisher added. On Aug. 16, Russian missiles struck a book market in Kyiv, burning down several rows of the trading pavilion. Entrepreneurs preliminarily estimate their individual losses in the tens and hundreds of thousands of hryvnias. The extent of the damage to the entire market has not yet been determined. Khortytsia distillery beyond repair Global Spirits’ Khortytsia distillery in Zaporizhzhia sustained damage that makes it impossible to restore, the company’s press service told NV Business. The plant took four direct hits and burned for at least three hours, the press service said, with part of its stock destroyed outright and the rest melted and fit only for disposal. The company estimated that it lost 3-4 million bottles of alcohol on which excise tax had already been paid. At an average retail price of Hr. 100 ($2.24) per bottle, that puts the value of the lost stock at roughly Hr. 300 million to Hr. 400 million ($6.7 million to $9 million). Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia region military administration, wrote on his official Telegram channel that the enemy struck one of the city’s enterprises, causing a fire that damaged production facilities. It is not the first time Global Spirits has lost a major facility to a Russian strike. Overnight on July 19, a Russian missile destroyed the company’s main warehouse outright, halting deliveries to clients and causing damage the company estimated at more than Hr. 100 million ($2.24 million) at the time. The Khortytsia plant, commissioned in December 2003, employed more than 500 people and ran bottling lines capable of filling 16 bottles per second, according to Global Spirits. Besides its namesake vodka, the plant also produced the Morosha, Pervak, Medova, Pshenychna Sloza and Gold Ukraine brands. Global Spirits Group’s revenue fell 54.3% to Hr. 1.4 billion ($31.4 million) in 2025, according to YouControl data, as the company swung from a Hr. 235.3 million ($5.3 million) loss to a Hr. 57 million ($1.3 million) profit. The value of its assets declined 3% to Hr. 2 billion ($44.9 million) over the same period. Since July 2022, Global Spirits has been owned by Martin Michael Wachter, a Liechtenstein national, according to YouControl. Ukrainian businessman Yevhen Cherniak, the company’s founder, was previously listed as its ultimate beneficial owner. A Russian drone also struck an Epicenter hypermarket in Zaporizhzhia, sparking a fire across roughly 2,000 square meters and injuring four people, local authorities reported on Telegram. Russian forces struck Fozzy Group’s FOZZY Cash&Carry hypermarket in Vyshneve, Kyiv region, on Aug. 28, leaving the store shut with the scale of the damage still unclear, the company’s press service wrote on Facebook. No one was injured in the attack, Fozzy Group wrote, adding that rescue crews were working at the site to clear the aftermath and thanking Ukraine’s State Emergency Service for its work. Yasno warehouse damaged Energy retailer Yasno lost part of a warehouse storing solar power equipment to a Russian strike, its CEO Serhiy Kovalenko wrote on Facebook. Most of the equipment stored there was damaged, he wrote, and the company has already relocated the surviving property to other storage sites while it assesses the losses. No warehouse employees were injured, according to the post. Kovalenko wrote that, despite the loss, Yasno will continue to meet its commitments to clients on the quality and timing of solar power and energy storage installations, saying the company holds sufficient equipment reserves to keep working. Yasno has operated as the retail energy brand of Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK group since 2019, supplying electricity and gas to more than 3.5 million customers. The company’s revenue rose 34.2% to Hr. 709 million ($15.9 million) in 2025, while net profit grew 2.2% to Hr. 192 million ($4.3 million), according to YouControl data.