Russian strikes shut Ukraine’s biggest steelmaker

KYIV: Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said it was shutting production at Ukraine’s largest steel plant, underscoring the growing economic toll of Russia’s airstrikes that on Friday killed five people in Kyiv, including a 14-year-old boy.

ArcelorMittal said on Friday it had informed the Ukrainian government that “safe and sustainable” operations were not possible after four strikes in five weeks caused extensive damage and killed five workers at the southeastern plant.

The shutdown is another blow to Ukraine’s once-mighty steel sector, which previously accounted for 15% of the country’s exports but has come under pressure from Russian attacks and restrictions from the EU, its top trading partner.

Russia has intensified air strikes across Ukraine in recent months using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones that have hit businesses, logistics networks, Black Sea port facilities and civilian infrastructure.

The economic impact of the attacks is cutting tax revenue and leaving the government with a widening budget gap as it seeks to finance the war, officials have said.

“The Russians are constantly expanding their escalation operation,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, noting a food warehouse used by McDonald’s was also hit on Friday. “It is important that the world responds to all of this and that Russia feels the response to its terror.”

Ukraine has also stepped up its attacks on Russia, targeting defence and energy facilities as well as major online retailers in an effort to undermine revenues and support for Moscow’s war effort.

A drone strike on a high-rise building in central Kyiv early on Friday killed a 14-year-old boy in what Zelenskiy described as an “absolutely savage and sickening” attack.

Later in the day, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the bodies of four people had been found in a parking lot in a separate daytime strike on an office building. Another seven people were wounded, he said.

Speaking to Reuters, 29-year-old Kyiv resident Anna said the mounting attacks made it feel as though she was “living under a gun”.

“Every morning, my alarm clock is a Shahed drone,” she said, referring to the drones that have been attacking Kyiv almost continuously for weeks.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians in the war, triggered by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The United Nations said on Friday its monitoring mission in Ukraine had recorded at least 200 civilian deaths in September from attacks that also damaged “homes, hospitals, shops and workplaces”.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had carried out overnight drone strikes on Ukrainian defence industry facilities, logistics centres and vessels used by Kyiv’s armed forces.

In Ukraine’s latest attacks on Russia, a drone strike forced the suspension of operations at the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in the Rostov region. Zelenskiy confirmed the strike, saying Ukraine had also hit a similar facility in Perm and a defence enterprise in Ulyanovsk.

ArcelorMittal, whose Kryvyi Rih plant produced 1.7 million metric tons of steel in 2025, said it expected to book a non-cash impairment charge of around $1 billion.

“It is with deep regret that we have concluded that we are no longer able to safely operate ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih,” subsidiary CEO Mauro Longobardo said in a statement.

The plant’s operations also include iron ore mines, which produced 7.6 million tons of iron ore in 2025, according to the company’s annual report.

“We are discussing the future of the plant with the Government of Ukraine and will focus on preserving the infrastructure, so when peace finally returns, options for restarting production remain available,” said Longobardo.

The plant employs about 12,500 people and 3,500 contractors. The company is assessing staffing needs after the shutdown to preserve the site, maintain security and support essential functions, a spokesperson told Reuters.

It plans to work with employee representatives and local management on measures to support workers, the person said.

Other Ukrainian steelmakers have also been targeted by Russian attacks.

The impact of the shutdown on ArcelorMittal and global steel markets is likely to be limited because the Kryvyi Rih plant had already been operating at significantly reduced capacity since 2022, a Kepler Cheuvreux analyst told Reuters.