Russian strikes have reportedly brought production at the country\u2019s three largest plants to a halt<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog, has halted production after repeated Russian missile strikes caused extensive damage to the plant, the company announced on Friday.
\nThe Russian Defense Ministry has said that Moscow is targeting Ukrainian military and defense-related facilities and supporting infrastructure in response to Kiev\u2019s escalating long-range attacks on Russian energy and industrial sites.
\nThe steelworks, located in the central Ukrainian city of Krivoy Rog, also includes iron ore mining operations. Before the escalation of the conflict in 2022, it produced 4.9 million tons of steel annually.
\nArcelorMittal said the facility had been hit four times over the past five weeks, most recently on September 21. The strikes caused extensive damage to production facilities, leaving the company unable to restart operations \u201cin a safe and sustainable manner.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Ukraine has \u2018lost its steel industry\u2019 \u2013 Metinvest exec<\/p>\n
CEO Mauro Longobardo said the company would focus on preserving the plant\u2019s infrastructure so production could eventually resume. ArcelorMittal expects to take a charge of around $1 billion due to the reduced value of the facility and its equipment.
\nThe shutdown follows stoppages at Zaporozhstal and Kamet Steel, both owned by Ukrainian metals giant Metinvest. Together with ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog, the three plants accounted for about 90% of Ukraine\u2019s steel output before Russian strikes brought production to a halt, according to the Financial Times.
\n\u201cAs of today, [Ukraine] doesn\u2019t have a steel industry anymore,\u201d Aleksandr Vodoviz, head of the CEO\u2019s office at Metinvest, told the FT, adding that repairs could take \u201cdays, weeks, months, or years.\u201d\u00a0
\nThe Russian Defense Ministry said this week that it had struck the Krivoy Rog steelworks and other industrial facilities involved in Ukrainian military production. Other recent targets cited by the ministry include drone production and storage sites, power infrastructure, bridges, ports, warehouses, and logistics hubs.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Ukraine kills three in strike on humanitarian mission \u2013 Russian officials<\/p>\n
A day before the latest strike on the steelworks, Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on Moscow, killing several people and hitting a major oil refinery.
\nRussia has condemned strikes on civilians as acts of terrorism, while maintaining that its forces only target military and defense-related facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russian strikes have reportedly brought production at the country\u2019s three largest plants to a halt Ukraine\u2019s largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog, has halted production after repeated Russian missile strikes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t