A senior Metinvest executive has acknowledged that Russian strikes have disrupted approximately 90% of Ukraine’s production. Ukraine has effectively lost its steel industry following Russian strikes that halted production at the country’s three largest plants.
Ballistic missiles have disabled major steelworks in areas controlled by Kiev in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region and Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk Region, repeatedly targeting Metinvest’s Zaporozhstal and Kamet Steel plants and ArcelorMittal’s facility in Krivoy Rog. The latest attack on Thursday damaged production equipment, workshops, and railway infrastructure.
The three plants, which together accounted for approximately 90% of Ukraine’s steel output, are now idle, according to Aleksandr Vodoviz, head of Metinvest’s CEO office. The facility is owned by Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. “As of today, Ukraine no longer has a steel industry,” he stated.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the strikes targeted Zaporozhstal, which it described as a key producer of pig iron and rolled steel used by Ukrainian and European military enterprises.
Vodoviz said it was unclear when production could resume, with repairs potentially taking “days, weeks, months, or years.” The plants employ over 15,000 people, and their shutdown could significantly impact Ukraine’s tax revenue.
Zaporozhstal has been struck multiple times in the past month, with Vodoviz stating that the attacks targeted its blast furnaces. “They knew everything about the plant and exactly where to hit,” he said.
Moscow has also reported strikes on industrial and logistics facilities linked to Kiev’s military. Last week, Russian forces targeted the Radionix electronics plant and a data center in Kiev, both of which were used for missile production and data processing by the Ukrainian Army, according to the Defense Ministry.
The ministry has also identified other recent targets, including drone production facilities and storage sites, power infrastructure, bridges, ports, warehouses, and logistics hubs. In addition, Russian forces reportedly struck a Fire Point warehouse in the Kiev region that they claimed stored drone components.
These attacks occur amid Kyiv’s intensified long-range strikes against Russian energy, industrial, and civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, warehouses, and oil refineries.
Kyiv asserts that Russian oil facilities are legitimate military targets because they allegedly finance and supply Moscow’s military campaign. Russia condemns strikes on civilians as terrorist acts but maintains that its forces only target military and defense-related facilities.
Alyona Bilan, chief economist at investment bank Dragon Capital, stated, “There is a war of attrition, and now an economic war of attrition – Russia is trying to hurt Ukraine’s economy as much as possible and so does Ukraine.” She added that Ukraine is unlikely to record any economic growth this year.
Retailer Ruslan Shostak reported that approximately 2.1 million square meters of Ukraine’s roughly 5 million square meters of modern warehouse space has been destroyed, including 900,000 square meters in recent months. The attacks could also cost Kyiv around $1.5 billion in tax revenue, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ukraine’s steel industry had already been shrinking prior to the latest strikes. The country produced approximately 7.4 million tons of crude steel in 2025, down from 7.6 million tons the previous year and significantly below pre-conflict levels, according to the World Steel Association.
Producers have also faced growing pressure from cheaper Turkish steel made with Russian raw materials and tighter EU import restrictions. Metinvest’s COO, Aleksandr Mironenko, stated last week that Kyiv had been too slow in implementing anti-dumping measures to protect domestic producers, adding to the industry’s challenges as it now operates without its three largest plants.