The Ukrainian Book Institute reported this on August 20.“As a result of the attack on Sumy in the night of August 18, 15,000 books burned in the library of Sumy State University,” the statement said.“According to the library director, during the Russian strike on the Congress Center in April 2025, they also lost another 45,000 books. Those were the newest titles purchased in the last 5–6 years,” the press service added.The attack of August 18 was first reported by Suspilne Sumy.According to the report, Russian forces struck Sumy with four drones, damaging Sumy State University. Staff worked to deal with the aftermath, evacuating expensive equipment from the burned-out building. The interior of the premises was flooded with water.Sumy Mayor’s Office head Kryvosheenko said a mobile headquarters was operating in the courtyard of the buildings at 4 and 8 Mykola Sumtsov Street, where residents whose homes were damaged could seek help. Windows and balcony frames were broken in two five-story buildings.“We are now evacuating the Shared Research Equipment Center. Since 2018 we had created a unit that supported analytical and materials science research. We had several grants, and with that funding we bought very expensive equipment — scanning electrodes, microscopes, various types of microanalyzers,” said Vice-Rector for Research Anatoliy Chornous.This was not the first Russian strike on the university. On the evening of September 3, 2024, Russian troops hit another Sumy State University building.On April 13, Russian forces struck Sumy with two ballistic missiles, killing 35 people. A university building and the Congress Center were damaged.