A Russian strike on Kyiv this week destroyed the warehouse and stock of Import-Ofis Ukraine, one of the country's leading suppliers of stationery and office goods, the company's press service told LIGA.net.
The fire destroyed products from the Ukrainian brands Buromax, Zibi and Buroclean, as well as goods from the international brands BIC, Maped, Fellowes and UNI, for which Import-Ofis Ukraine serves as the official distributor in Ukraine.
In a statement, the company said it had lost not just thousands of units of product but the result of years of work by a large team: warehouse stock, logistics infrastructure and goods that were meant to reach Ukrainian offices, factories, schools, kindergartens and families.
A supplier with a national footprint
Import-Ofis Ukraine has operated in the Ukrainian market for more than 30 years. Before the strike, its portfolio covered more than 12,000 product lines, and it supplied more than 1,500 wholesale clients through a workforce of more than 300 people.
The Buromax brand, which makes notebooks, paper and school and office supplies, was founded in 2003. Zibi, another of the company's stationery brands, was launched in 2011.
The strike is one of several to have hit Kyiv this week as part of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022 and has repeatedly targeted the capital with missile and drone attacks.
Websites offline, recovery under way
The company's websites, buromax.ua and zibi.ua, are temporarily out of action. But the brands' founders, Vadym Zibrov and Oksana Filonova, said Import-Ofis Ukraine plans to resume operations and is currently gathering goods that were already in transit to stabilize supply.
Some products had already been distributed before the strike, meaning Buromax and Zibi items can still be found in partner stores, according to the company.
Other infrastructure hit this week
The warehouse strike came during a week in which Russian forces also destroyed three Ukrnafta filling stations in Kyiv, LIGA.net reported.
In Dnipro, Russian forces struck the Oleyna plant and a Varus warehouse in recent days.
