🇷🇺❌🇺🇦🏭 — 🇬🇧 The Economist | Why is Russia trying to seize a vital Ukrainian coal mine | Without it, the country’s remaining steel industry will suffer
The Pokrovskaya mine is far from being a decrepit old Soviet relic. Opened in 1990, it is currently owned by Metinvest, the company of Rinat Akhmetov, one of Ukraine’s wealthiest individuals. Metinvest owned the two Mariupol steel plants, as well as Europe’s largest coking plant, located in Avdiivka, which was destroyed last year. Now it must face the loss of this mine as well.
With associated facilities and administrative buildings, the Pokrovskaya mining group employs 6,000 people, of which around 1,000 currently serve in the armed forces. It is Ukraine’s largest coking coal mine. The coal used for smelting iron ore is crucial for the country’s remaining steel industry. This year, Metinvest hoped to mine 5.3 million tons of coal there. In 2023, Ukrainian steel mills produced 6.2 million tons of crude steel. In 2021, however, before the loss of the two Mariupol plants, Ukraine produced 21.4 million tons. In 2021, Ukraine was the world’s 14th largest steel producer, but last year it fell to 24th place.
According to analyst Andriy Buzarov, the Russians do not even need to take over the mine to suffocate Ukraine’s remaining steel industry. As they advance, they try to disrupt its power supply and block the main road that takes coal west to the remaining steel plants. Then they will do the same in another smaller coking coal mine, 18 km north of Udachne, in Dobropillya.
