#Metinvest

Ukraine's steel industry faces a severe crisis with August output plunging 57.3% and a shutdown risk in October. Experts urge the creation of a dedicated Recovery Fund.

In September 2026, Ukrainian metallurgy experienced a week without steel smelting for the first time in 100 years due to Russian strikes. Metinvest reported plant destructions and billions in losses.

Ukrainian metallurgy in 2026 is on the verge of collapse due to missile strikes, logistics crises, and EU restrictions, demanding a dedicated recovery fund.

Ukraine's Metinvest Polytechnic saw a 43% surge in enrollment, welcoming over 360 new students this academic year, including combat veterans studying under simplified conditions.

The Metinvest Group, as part of Rinat Akhmetov's "Steel Front" initiative, delivered a package of equipment and gear worth over 16 million UAH to the 12th National Guard Brigade "Azov." The delivery included transport, special equipment, drones, and communications equipment.

Ukrainian metallurgy is going through a deep crisis: after the strikes, Zaporizhstal, Kametstal and ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih have been shut down, steel production fell by 57.3% in August, and new EU quotas could cut exports by 60%. The industry, which accounts for 40% of the railway's and the ports' workload, has found itself "on the brink of survival".

The August–September shelling and port blockades halted more than 70% of Ukraine's steel production. Output fell by half, rail exports by 2.5 times. The industry is in a "perfect storm."

Metsinvest's management warned that without a review of EU quotas, Ukrainian metallurgy risks losing access to the European market for 5–10 years amid the destruction of production capacity by Russian strikes.

Metinvest's Chief Operating Officer Alexander Myronenko called for not raising UZ freight tariffs amid the port blockade and proposed creating a "Railway Ramstein" mechanism.

Minvest’s COO Alexander Myronenko stated that the financial resilience buffer of Ukraine’s steel industry has been exhausted: only two MPPs of the group are operating at 50% capacity, and production costs rose by 30% over the year due to the port blockade and logistics.

In Kryvyi Rih, the consultative-diagnostic center of Hospital No. 3 was opened after a major renovation: Metinvest and the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation invested around UAH 125 million in upgrading the facility that serves 101,000 residents.

On September 12, Russia struck Zaporizhstal with ballistic missiles for the third time in a month. Four missiles hit the non-operating enterprise, four workers were injured, and the damage is preliminarily assessed as critical.

A Russian ballistic strike on Kametstal in Kamianske on the night of 5 September killed five people and injured four more. Production has been fully halted, and a day of mourning has been declared in the city.

The blockade of the ports of Greater Odesa puts up to $2 billion of Ukraine's export revenue at risk monthly. The NBU estimates second-half 2026 losses at $2.5 billion, while the agricultural sector risks losing up to 16 million tonnes of produce over six months.

Metrinvest CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov won the 'Industry' category of NV's 'Top Managers Who Hold the Country Together' ranking. Over 2022–2025, the Group invested 43.6 billion UAH and paid more than 82 billion UAH in taxes.

Due to a labor shortage, Metinvest has cut retraining from 9–12 to 3–5 months, expanded the Steel Force program to three new countries, and employed 500 vocational school graduates in 2025.

Ukrainian metallurgy faces a critical crisis in August 2026: the EU has cut steel quotas, while Russia blocks ports. Experts predict a 60% drop in exports and losses of up to 12 percentage points of GDP.

⚠️ The EU has introduced strict steel quotas that hit both Ukraine and Europe. As of July 1, 2026, limits have been cut by 47%, and tariffs have risen to 50%. The Brussels Times notes that this undermines Ukraine's defense and disrupts European supply chains, while the import of Russian steel is still permitted until 2028. European steel security and Ukraine's survival should not be competing goals.