How Ukraine’s Battered Steel Industry Galvanized Its War Effort

Destroyed by Russian bombardment, Azovstal and Illich Steel, another Mariupol plant, are now behind enemy lines. Before the invasion, they were Ukraine’s two largest metallurgical plants, accounting for 41 percent of steel production. Like Zaporizhstal, both plants are run by Metinvest, Ukraine’s largest private company, controlled by the country’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.

Steel is the most commonly used metal in the world, with nearly two billion tons manufactured globally each year. Smelted iron is the main component of steel, used in construction, vehicles, furniture, plumbing, computers, energy infrastructure and weapons — including the shells being forged in the United States for use in artillery across Ukraine.

Metallurgical production is Ukraine’s second-leading industry after agriculture, making up 20 percent of foreign exports. But the country’s steel production, which was ninth in the world in 2021, plummeted by 70 percent in 2022, mainly because of the destruction of major plants, Ukrmetprom, the steel makers association, said in January.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/world/europe/ukraine-steel-plants-war.html