Ukraine's prized steel industry left in ruins by Russian missile campaign

If the steelworks remain shut, hundreds of thousands of people may lose their jobs, and the resulting waves of migration will reach far beyond Ukraine, Zinchenko warned. "A humanitarian catastrophe is looming."The end of steelmaking in Ukraine would also have severe consequences for its defence capabilities and reconstruction. Steel is vital for producing military equipment, as well as for making shelters and repairing countless buildings damaged by Russia.Russia has justified its attacks on the steel plants for that reason, alleging that the plants in Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih were all producing military hardware."We attempted relaunching Zaporizhstal. We restarted a furnace, and it worked for 10 hours before there was another air strike," Oleksandr Vodoviz of Metinvest told a conference in Kyiv.There was no point yet on spending money on recovery as the situation was unclear, he added.Even if production were to resume, it would not be business as usual for Ukrainian steelmakers any time soon. Russian attacks on railways have made transporting their products within Ukraine difficult and dangerous, and strikes against ports have turned exports into a lethal lottery."Ports have es...