On the night of September 12, Russian forces attacked the Zaporizhstal steel plant with ballistic missiles for the third time in the past month. Four missiles hit the production site, injuring four employees.
This was reported by the press service of Metinvest, the owner of the plant.
According to the company, Zaporizhstal has still not resumed production following previous strikes on August 11 and August 27.
The latest attack damaged the main and auxiliary equipment of the blast furnace and open-hearth shops, as well as the plant’s power system, internal networks and logistics infrastructure.
Metinvest Chief Operating Officer Oleksandr Myronenko said the damage was preliminarily assessed as critical.
“The scale of destruction is growing with each strike. It is currently impossible to assess the full extent of the damage, but our preliminary assessment is that it is critical,” he said.
According to the company, Zaporizhstal produced pig iron and steel for civilian purposes and did not manufacture products for military use.
As the plant had not been operating since the previous attacks, there is no risk of a technological accident. The number of employees present at the site had also been significantly reduced.
No one was killed in the attack. One of the four injured workers declined hospitalization after receiving first aid and remained at the plant to help deal with the aftermath of the strike.
Three other employees with moderate injuries were taken to city hospitals.
Work is ongoing at the plant to deal with the consequences of the attack and inspect the damaged facilities. Metinvest said the repeated strikes on Zaporizhstal and Kametstal indicate a systematic destruction of Ukrainian industry.
