Vladyslav Kyrychenko, founder of Nash Format who shaped Ukraine's non-fiction market, has died
On Tuesday, January 20, entrepreneur and philanthropist Vladyslav Kyrychenko, 57, died. It is a loss for the Ukrainian book industry: his publishing house became a platform for ideas that today carry no less weight than weapons.
By Oleg Bazylewicz
January 20, 2026 · 2 min read
What happened
On Tuesday, January 20, entrepreneur and philanthropist Vladyslav Kyrychenko died in his 58th year of life. He was 57 years old. This was reported on the official Facebook page of the publishing house «Nash Format».
“This morning Vladyslav Kyrychenko passed away — the founder of the 'Nash Format' brand, founder of the NGO 'Community of Ukrainian Reformation'. He was 57 years old. The cause of death was a serious oncological disease.”
— Facebook page of the publishing house «Nash Format»
Briefly about his career
Kyrychenko was born on November 1, 1968, in Horlivka. In the 1990s he founded the biotechnology company Helicon in Russia, which became one of the leaders in the Russian market for equipping biological laboratories. In 2006, while in Russia, he founded the publishing house «Nash Format», which later turned into one of the leading Ukrainian players in the non-fiction segment and a large online bookstore.
Why it matters
The non-fiction market in Ukraine in recent years has become not only a commercial project but also a platform for public discussion — from economics to national identity. The business founded by Kyrychenko and his philanthropic activity contributed to the professionalization of the industry and the creation of channels for disseminating ideas that influence the public discourse.
In the context of the prolonged struggle over values and the information space, such institutions have strategic significance: they form the country’s intellectual resources, which work for its resilience in both peacetime and wartime.
What’s next
The loss of a key figure raises questions about succession and the preservation of the platforms that have been built. For readers, it is a prompt to pay attention to independent publishing initiatives and to support those institutions that will continue working with ideas and facts.
Professionals emphasize that the business model and team of «Nash Format» have the potential for autonomous development, but the founder’s role in building trust and network connections was crucial.
Conclusion
This is more than another news item about the death of a well-known person. The loss of those who created informational and cultural institutions is a blow to the infrastructure of ideas. Now the task of society and the market is to preserve these institutions and multiply their contribution to national resilience.
