The Metinvest Group has officially announced the suspension of operations at Pokrovske Coal “due to changes in the frontline situation, electricity shortages, and deteriorating security conditions,” according to a statement published on the group’s website.
The group is currently assessing “the full impact of the asset’s suspension, whose production facilities remain in Ukrainian-controlled territory.”
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Pokrovske Coal Group plays a key role in Ukraine’s steel production – 65% of Ukrainian steel in the industry was produced using the coal from Pokrovsk, Oleksandr Parashchiy, the head of research at Kyiv-based Concorde Capital investment bank, told Kyiv Post.
Metinvest’s management has developed a contingency plan to ensure the supply of coal and coke for steel production at the Group’s metallurgical assets (Kamet Steel and the Zaporizhstal joint venture), the company wrote.
Metinvest, which belongs to Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov, will substitute coking coal from the US-based United Coal Company (part of Metinvest Group) in place of Ukrainian coal and raw materials, Metinvest wrote.
Apart from reserves of coal the company has already processed in Ukraine, the company will supply coal from foreign third-party suppliers, the press release said.
Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Oleksandr Myronenko told Ukraine’s media outlet The Page that coal reserves had previously been stockpiled at the group’s coke-chemical plants:
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“The plants won’t stop. Of course, we will later have to switch to importing coking coal into Ukraine. We’ll need to purchase this grade or some mix of grades to maintain production. Yes, this will affect our efficiency, but we will not stop and will continue to work,” he told The Page in 2024.
Metinvest is assisting in the evacuation of workers and their families, the company wrote.
The employees will take additional training to work at Metinvest’s plants in Zaporizhzhia, Kamianske, and Kryvyi Rih.
Metinvest also wrote that it would provide financial compensation to evacuated employees including relocation expenses, rent in new housing or free accommodation in dormitories, and aid for children that includes continued enrollment in kindergartens and schools.
The security situation became dangerous as Russia was advancing to besiege Pokrovsk, so safety measures had to be taken.
Russia intends to bypass the city and cut a key supply route instead of making a direct attack. A highway linking Pokrovsk with the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine is now the new target for Moscow troops, Maj. Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Khortytsia Operational Group, told AP News in a WhatsApp message, as reported by Kyiv Post.
“Given the daily worsening of the situation, we cannot risk the safety of our thousands of employees, nor the lives of their families and children. Therefore, suspending the enterprise’s operations is a necessary step to preserve human lives,” the press release quoted Yuri Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group.
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