Energy — 2026-09-21

Russian Ballistic Missile Strikes Halt Three Steel Mills Knocking Out 90 Percent of Ukraine National Steel Production

BLUFRussia's systematic destruction of Ukraine's blast-furnace steelmaking capacity within a single month strips Kyiv of a critical industrial base needed for both wartime production and postwar reconstruction.

Russian ballistic missiles struck three steel plants in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions this month, idling facilities that produced roughly 90% of Ukraine's steel, Metinvest and ArcelorMittal told the Financial Times 1234. Zaporizhstal took its fourth missile strike in under a month last Thursday, when two ballistic missiles hit the plant. Metinvest says 17 missiles have struck the facility over that period 23. Strikes on the plants' blast furnaces earlier this month killed 17 workers overall 124, including five in a September 5 attack on the Kametstal plant in Kamianske 3. Metinvest's Oleksandr Vodoviz said the shutdown affects more than 15,000 employees and that repairs could take anywhere from days to years, warning that Ukraine "no longer has a steel industry" 234. The strikes came amid a broader weeklong Russian bombardment of more than 2,000 drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 19 missiles nationwide 2.

Analysis
Repeated targeting of blast furnaces rather than power or rail links feeding the plants points to intent to inflict damage that outlasts any single strike, since furnace relining runs on a multi-month to multi-year cycle regardless of further attacks, and Metinvest's own uncertainty over repair timelines confirms the sector cannot yet self-assess recovery, let alone hand Kyiv a reconstruction plan. The shutdown may instead reflect a temporary damage-assessment pause, given Metinvest concedes repairs could take as little as days. Financial Times supplies the sole primary account, with Kyiv Post drawing on the same Metinvest/ArcelorMittal disclosures and UNN, Mezha.net, and Forbes Ukraine amplifying as secondary pickups. The loss compounds pressure on a national budget already reliant on external financing and should be read alongside the Naftogaz-MOL fuel storage agreement, which relocates critical supply infrastructure beyond the strike range this campaign exploits.

5 sources

Russian Strikes Stop 90% of Ukraine Steel Output - Kyiv Post
Russian strikes halted plants that produced 90% of Ukraine's steel - Financial Times - UNN (Ukrainian National News)
Russian strikes halt three major Ukrainian steel plants as damage assessment begins - Mezha.net
Три заводи, які виробляли 90% сталі в Україні, зупинилися після ударів РФ – FT - Forbes Ukraine
Russian strikes halt plants that produced 90% of Ukraine's steel - Financial Times