How Ukraine Loses Its Chief Source of Coking Coal
© Sputnik / Cherckasov
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With Russian soldiers approaching the city of Pokrovsk in Donbass, Kiev was forced to shut down a key mine there that served as chief source of coking coal for the Ukrainian metallurgy bringing Kiev's steel industry to its knees.
The loss of the coking coal produced by the mine in question may result in Ukraine’s steel output dropping to as low as 2 million metric tons this year, as compared to the 7.6 million tons produced in 2024.
Steelmaking has long been one of Ukraine’s top industries, due to the fact that the country had ample deposits of natural resources such as iron and coal, not to mention mines and steel mills built during the Soviet era.
In August 2024, Ukraine’s extractive industries' association complained that about 40% of the country’s resource extraction facilities ceased operating, and that the Ukrainian metallurgy irreversibly lost at least 40% of its production capability.
In July 2024, Ukrainian steelmakers also complained that switching to importing electricity from abroad is having a detrimental effect on their industry.
In 2022, Ukrainian steelmaking output dropped by over 70% to only 6.3 million tons.
Since 2014, Ukraine has witnessed a serious blow to steel production and exports as Kiev gradually lost access to the required resources and production facilities such as, for example, Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
