FT: Ukraine's largest steel mills shut down after Russian strikes
Ukraine actually lost the steel industry after the Russian strikes, writes the Financial Times. The three largest metallurgical enterprises, which produced 90% of the country's steel, stopped work. The timing of their recovery is unknown and may take years. The strikes also affected warehouses, logistics centers and transport infrastructure. What is happening to the Ukrainian industry is in the material of "Gazeta.Ru».
There are no working steel mills left in Ukraine after Russia's strikes. The last three companies have recently gone out of business, according to the Financial Times. We are talking about two plants of the mining and metallurgical group "Metinvest" and the enterprise ArcelorMittal in Krivoy Rog.
According to the FT, these plants accounted for about 90% of Ukraine's steel production. Alexander Vodoviz, head of the office of the CEO of "Metinvest", said that the industry has now been virtually shut down.
In total, more than 15 thousand people work at the three shut-down enterprises. According to Vodoviz, the downtime of the plants can seriously affect tax revenues to the Ukrainian budget.
One of "Metinvest" plants in Zaporizhia has been hit several times over the past month. According to the FT, two ballistic missiles hit the company again on Thursday. Vodoviz claims that blast furnaces were the target of the attacks.
The Russian strikes affected not only metallurgical enterprises. Ruslan Shostak, founder and co-owner of the Ukrainian EVA and VARUS retail chains, told FT that out of 5 million square meters. 2.1 million square meters of modern warehouses in Ukraine have been destroyed. About 900 thousand square meters, according to him, have been in recent months.
Agricultural companies also had problems. Anton Zhemerdeev, Commercial Director of TAS Agro, said that due to export difficulties, the company is forced to store wheat in large bags directly in the fields.
Ukrainian economist Olena Bilan told the FT that the country is unlikely to show economic growth in 2026, and affected businesses will have to pass on additional costs to consumers.
Minister of Economy and Environment of Ukraine Oleksandr Kravchenko previously estimated the possible losses of Ukrainian business from Russian attacks in 2026 at $10 billion. According to him, economic losses from problems with the operation of the Black Sea ports amount to about 1.5 percentage points of GDP.
Attacks on metallurgical enterprises
The Russian Ministry of Defense regularly reports on attacks on enterprises and infrastructure facilities in Ukraine, which are used in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On the night of September 17, Russian troops launched a massive attack on targets in Kiev, Zaporizhia and the Odessa region. The Russian Defense Ministry said that among the targets were enterprises of the metallurgical and electronic industries, facilities of the military-industrial complex, energy and transport infrastructure.
In Zaporizhia, according to the Russian ministry, the blow fell on the "Zaporizhstal" metallurgical plant. The Ministry of Defense called it a key enterprise of the metallurgical industry of Ukraine and stated that the steel produced there is used, among other things, by defense enterprises of Ukraine and Europe.
On the same day, the Ministry of Defense reported strikes on the De Novo data center in Kiev, workshops for the production and storage of drones, a battery park in Brovary, an electrical substation and two automobile bridges across the Dniester. In the Odessa region, according to the Russian ministry, two dry cargo ships were also hit.
On September 20, the Russian military announced new group strikes with precision weapons and drones against targets in Kiev. "Radionics", a radio-electronic industry company, and "Bi-mobile" data center were hit, according to the Ministry of Defense. ""The department claims that the first produced control systems for the Ukrainian "Flamingo", "Neptune", FP-7 and FP-9 missiles, and the second was used to store, process and transmit data in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In addition, the Ministry of Defense announced drone strikes on ports, warehouses and logistics centers. In the Kiev region, according to the agency, the warehouse of the Fire Point company with components for drones was hit.
Steel production has almost tripled
The problems of the Ukrainian metallurgy industry began long before the last strikes. According to the World Steel Association, in 2025 Ukraine produced 7.4 million tons of steel and ranked 23rd among the largest producers in the world.
For comparison, in 2021, before the outbreak of hostilities, production was about 21.4 million tons. Thus, by 2025, the volume of output has almost tripled.
Now, according to the Financial Times, three enterprises that accounted for the bulk of the country's steel production have stopped. Their representatives have not yet announced when they will be able to resume work.
Irina Markova
