MOSCOW, September 30. /TASS/. Ukraine’s steel mills have halted steel production for the first time in a century, Vladimir Zelensky’s former spokeswoman Yulia Mendel said.

"Ukraine spent a week in September making no steel at all. The first time in 100 years. The big plants are idle after massed Russian strikes. Furnaces are damaged. Restarting one costs at least $50 million. Building one costs about $500 million. Steel exports are already losing $200 million a month," she wrote in a post on her X page.

On September 22, the Interpipe Steel complex announced that its pipe rolling mill was halting operations. On September 18, it was reported that the Zaporozhstal and Kametstal metallurgical plants had also halted operations. Earlier, another major steelmaker, the Dnepropetrovsk Steel Plant, had ceased operations due to financial problems. In January 2022, the plant suspended operations, and in 2026, proceedings began to declare it insolvent. In addition, explosions occurred there in early September.

The steel industry generates $6.2 billion in foreign exchange earnings for Ukraine annually. It ranks second only to agricultural products, accounting for about 13% of the total. The ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog steel company contributed nearly 8.5 billion hryvnia ($189 million) to the budget each year, Interpipe Steel - 5.56 billion hryvnia ($123 million), Zaporozhstal - four billion hryvnia ($90 million), and Kametstal - 2.5 billion hryvnia ($56 million).