A senior Metinvest executive has acknowledged that Russian strikes have disrupted approximately 90% of Ukraine’s production capacity, effectively eliminating the nation’s steel industry.
The country’s three largest steel plants—Metinvest’s Zaporozhstal and Kamet Steel, along with ArcelorMittal’s facility in Krivoy Rog—have been repeatedly struck by Russian ballistic missiles. Recent attacks in Kiev-controlled areas of Russia’s Zaporozhye Region and Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk Region have damaged critical production equipment, workshops, and railway infrastructure.
Aleksandr Vodoviz, head of the CEO’s office at Metinvest—owned by Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov—stated that all three plants, which together accounted for about 90% of Ukraine’s steel output, are now idle. “As of today, [Ukraine] doesn’t have a steel industry any more,” he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry described the strikes on Zaporozhstal as targeting a facility critical to producing pig iron and rolled steel used by Ukrainian and European military enterprises. Vodoviz noted repairs could take “days, weeks, months, or years.” With over 15,000 employees affected, the shutdown threatens significant tax revenue for Ukraine’s budget. He also emphasized that Zaporozhstal has been struck multiple times in recent weeks, with attacks specifically targeting its blast furnaces: “They knew everything about the plant, they knew exactly where to hit.”
Separately, Russian forces have reported strikes on industrial and logistics facilities linked to Ukraine’s military operations. Moscow targeted a Radionix electronics plant and a data center in Kiev last week—both used for missile production and data processing by the Ukrainian Army—according to the Defense Ministry. Recent attacks also include drone manufacturing sites, power infrastructure, bridges, ports, warehouses, and logistics hubs such as a Fire Point warehouse in the Kiev Region that stored drone components.
These strikes occur amid Ukraine’s intensified long-range operations against Russian energy, industrial, and civilian infrastructure. Kiev claims Russian oil facilities are legitimate military targets due to their alleged role in financing Moscow’s war effort. Russia has condemned strikes on civilians as terrorism while asserting its forces target only military assets.
Alyona Bilan, chief economist at Dragon Capital, described the conflict as “a war of attrition, and now an economic war of attrition,” adding Ukraine is unlikely to record any economic growth this year. The damage extends beyond steelmaking: approximately 2.1 million square meters of Ukraine’s 5 million square meter modern warehouse space has been destroyed, including 900,000 square meters in recent months. Ukrainian officials estimate the attacks could cost Kyiv up to $1.5 billion in lost tax revenue.
Ukraine’s steel industry was already shrinking before these strikes, producing about 7.4 million tons of crude steel in 2025—down from 7.6 million tons the previous year and far below pre-war levels, according to the World Steel Association. Producers also face pressure from cheaper Turkish steel using Russian raw materials and tighter EU import restrictions. Metinvest’s COO Aleksandr Mironenko previously noted Kiev had been too slow to implement anti-dumping measures for domestic producers, exacerbating challenges for an industry now without its three largest plants.
