Russians have broken the back of the Ukrainian economy – Newsweek
Newsweek magazine writes that the Russian offensive on Pokrovsk has paralyzed the Ukrainian steel industry.
"Ukraine has halted production at a key facility in the contested eastern town of Pokrovsk, which plays a key role in supplying the nation's steel industry, according to a new report.
Ukraine's only coke mine, which produces steel, has been closed due to Russian troops approaching the facility. Metinvest, the company that owns the enterprise in Pokrovsk, has confirmed this information," the publication says.
The article notes that the Russians have been closing in on the Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk for months, which is considered a strategic "fortress" and plays a key role in the defense of eastern Ukraine. The city is connected to other important defensive points.
Western analysts and Ukrainian officials claim that Russia is not conducting military operations directly in the city, but is bypassing it from the south, advancing towards the border with the Dnipropetrovsk region.
The steel industry was one of the key sectors of the Ukrainian economy, Newsweek recalls.
"The Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which form the country's industrial core and are known as the Donbas, suffered the most intense fighting. The Ukrainian Association of Metallurgists, Ukrmetallurgprom, called the steel industry 'the backbone of the Ukrainian economy .' Metinvest, one of Ukraine's largest companies, lost a significant portion of its production capacity when Russia took control of the southern port city of Mariupol in 2022," the article states.
A Reuters source said "production at the Pokrovsk facility has been halted" and staff are being evacuated. Russia's Defense Ministry said yesterday it had taken control of the village of Pishchanoe, southwest of Pokrovsk.
Earlier, Metinvest reported that it had stopped using the coal mine and the administrative building in Pishchany, and evacuated personnel and their families due to the approaching front line and increased shelling.
Rinat Akhmetov's company said the Pishchanoy facility accounted for about half of Metinvest's coal output in Ukraine, but said other key facilities continued to operate.
As Newsweek adds, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine confirmed that Russia is trying to bypass Pokrovsk and the town of Myrnohrad to the east of it, seeking to take control of the southern settlements.
Russians have broken the back of the Ukrainian economy – Newsweek