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Ukraine’s steel industry has been left largely paralysed by a sustained Russian missile campaign, with major plants damaged or forced to suspend operations, according to the BBC.
At the Zaporizhstal steelworks in Zaporizhzhia, worker Denys Maksyshko said the factory had been the city’s main source of employment for generations. The plant, which employs 8,500 people, was shut down indefinitely after four waves of Russian attacks in August and September.
“Zaporizhstal is not just a big company, it’s the heart of the city,” Maksyshko said.
Russia fired 17 missiles at the facility, according to Oleksandr Myronenko, chief operating officer of its owner, Metinvest. Eight workers were killed and 31 were wounded.
“All the equipment has been almost completely destroyed. There are no windows left, and there are holes in the roofs. The blast furnaces have been almost completely ruined,” Maksyshko said.
Workers are now clearing debris and assessing whether the plant can be restored. Myronenko said it remained uncertain whether Zaporizhstal would ever resume operations.
Steel plants across Ukraine hit
Russia’s latest air campaign against Ukrainian metallurgical facilities began in August. All of the country’s steel plants have since been hit, some more than once.
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, mining and metallurgy accounted for about 10% of Ukraine’s gross domestic product and one-third of its exports. The sector employed more than 500,000 people, with one in every 13 jobs linked to the industry directly or indirectly.
Myronenko said the sector’s contribution to Ukraine’s economy was now “probably close to zero”. Metinvest, previously the country’s largest steel and iron producer, has all of its steelworks out of operation.
“Clearly, they’re trying to stop Ukraine’s economy and stop Ukraine from getting export money from abroad, from paying taxes and wages, from ensuring that cities live and people have jobs,” he said. “Their efforts have been very effective so far.”
Ukraine had 12 metallurgical plants before losing parts of its industrial heartland in the east after hostilities with Russia began in 2014. The number had fallen to nine by 2018 and to six by 2025, three years after the start of the full-scale war. The Azovstal and Illich plants in Mariupol were among those lost after the city was captured following a months-long Russian siege.
Attacks threaten city budgets and jobs
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine’s largest steelworks, said on 25 September that it could not reopen after repeated attacks over five weeks. Five of its workers had been killed.
Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the local Defence Council in Kryvyi Rih, described the shutdown as a “very serious blow” that would affect far more than thousands of jobs.
“It is taxes feeding into our community’s budget,” he said. “They provided funds for keeping the city’s infrastructure running, repairing heating plants and their pipes, funds for nursery schools, social services and many other things.”
Taxes paid by metallurgical companies have financed between 30% and 70% of local government spending in the cities where they operate, according to Stanislav Zinchenko, head of Kyiv-based consultancy GMK Center.
“In other words, the physical survival of these cities depended on these companies,” Zinchenko told the BBC.
He described the damage as a “catastrophic problem” for Ukraine’s economy, noting that the sector had invested an average of $2 billion-$3 billion annually before the war.
If the plants remain closed, hundreds of thousands of people could lose their jobs, while migration could extend beyond Ukraine, Zinchenko warned. “A humanitarian catastrophe is looming,” he said.
War complicates recovery and exports
The loss of steel production could also damage Ukraine’s defence capabilities and reconstruction efforts. Steel is used to manufacture military equipment, build shelters and repair buildings damaged by Russian attacks.
Russia has justified its strikes by alleging that plants in Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih were producing military hardware.
Metinvest executive Oleksandr Vodoviz said the company had tried to restart Zaporizhstal, but a furnace operated for only 10 hours before another air strike forced the effort to stop. He said it was not yet possible to commit funds to recovery while the situation remained unclear.
Even if production resumes, Ukrainian steelmakers face major logistical challenges. Russian attacks on railways have made domestic transport difficult, while strikes on ports have made exports highly risky.
“Ports have essentially been blocked,” Myronenko said. “Every ship is at risk of being attacked, and their chances are 50-50 — either you make it, or you don’t.”
European Union steel import quotas introduced on 1 July could add to the sector’s difficulties.
Maksyshko, however, remains hopeful. He said workers were clearing rubble and repairing everything they could.
“This is similar to what the military do in the trenches. Ordinary people are fighting to keep the factory alive like soldiers,” he said.
