Three plants that produced 90% of Ukraine’s steel are idle following Russian strikes. The *Financial Times* reported this—citing steel companies Metinvest and ArcelorMittal—as reported by Babel and the PromPolitInform portal.
In early September, Russian ballistic missiles disabled three major Ukrainian metallurgical plants in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Seventeen workers were killed in the attacks.
Oleksandr Vodoviz from the steel company Metinvest told the *FT* that it is currently unknown how long repairs will take—ranging from a few days to months or even years.
According to him, the plant shutdowns will also significantly impact tax revenue. Previously, Serhiy Koretskyi stated that the state could lose approximately $1.5 billion in tax revenue due to Russian attacks on businesses and logistics.
On August 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine’s defense budget deficit stands at $27 billion. The President suggested that one way to cover this gap could be the early disbursement of funds from the €90 billion EU loan package scheduled for 2027.
