Russia Labels Crippled Ukraine Steel Mills Military Targets While Operator Denies Claim – The SOFX Report

Russia Labels Crippled Ukraine Steel Mills Military Targets While Operator Denies Claim  The SOFX Report

Russia and Ukraine's largest steelmaker have offered opposing accounts of why a series of ballistic missile strikes has shut down the three plants that Russia and Ukraine’s largest steelmaker have offered opposing accounts of why a series of ballistic missile strikes has shut down the three plants that produced about 90% of Ukraine’s steel, with Moscow describing the sites as armor suppliers and the operator insisting the output was strictly civilian. The strikes in August and early September idled Zaporizhstal in Zaporizhzhia, Kamet Steel in Kamianske, and the ArcelorMittal integrated works in Kryvyi Rih. Zaporizhstal and Kamet Steel belong to Metinvest, the mining and metals group controlled by Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov.

The companies said the three sites together accounted for roughly 90% of national steel output and employ more than 15,000 people. “As of today, [Ukraine] no longer has a steel industry,” Oleksandr Vodoviz, head of the chief executive’s office at Metinvest, told the Financial Times, which first reported the sector-wide halt. He said Russian forces “knew exactly where to strike,” hitting the plants’ blast furnaces, and that repairs could take “days, weeks, months, or years.” The two sides disagree over whether the plants were legitimate targets. Russia’s Ministry of Defense stated after strikes on August 11 and in September that Zaporizhstal produced flat-rolled steel used for body armor