By Dan Peleschuk and Anna Pruchnicka
KYIV, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said on Friday it could not restart production at Ukraine's largest steel plant after a series of missile strikes, the latest economic setback from Russia's escalating air campaign.
The Luxembourg-based firm said it had informed the Ukrainian government that "safe and sustainable" operations were not possible after four strikes in five weeks caused extensive damage and killed five workers at the southeastern plant.
Its shutdown is another blow to Ukraine's steel sector, a key industry that accounts for 15% of the country's exports but has come under pressure from Russian attacks and restrictions from the EU, its top trading partner.
"It is with deep regret that we have concluded that we are no longer able to safely operate ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih," subsidiary CEO Mauro Longobardo said in a statement.
ESCALATING AIR WAR
Russia has intensified attacks across Ukraine in recent months using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones that Kyiv's military lacks the resources to intercept.
Targets have included businesses, logistics networks, Black Sea port facilities and civilian infrastructure.
A drone strike on central Kyiv on Friday killed a 14-year-old boy in an attack President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as "absolutely savage and sickening".
Zelenskiy said a separate strike killed one person at a postal facility in the Black Sea port of Odesa, while a medical clinic in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia was hit while people were inside.
Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians in the war, triggered by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The United Nations said on Friday its monitoring mission in Ukraine had recorded at least 200 civilian deaths in September from attacks that also damaged "homes, hospitals, shops and workplaces".
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had carried out overnight drone strikes on Ukrainian defence industry facilities, logistics centres and vessels used by Kyiv's armed forces.
Ukraine has also stepped up attacks on Russia, targeting defence and energy facilities as well as major online retailers in an effort to undermine revenues and support for Moscow's war effort.
SUFFERING STEEL INDUSTRY
ArcelorMittal, whose Kryvyi Rih plant produced 1.7 million metric tons of steel in 2025, said it expected to book a non-cash impairment charge of around $1 billion.
The plant's operations also include iron ore mines, which produced 7.6 million tons of iron ore in 2025, according to the company's annual report.
"We are discussing the future of the plant with the Government of Ukraine and will focus on preserving the infrastructure, so when peace finally returns, options for restarting production remain available," said Longobardo.
ArcelorMittal shares were up 2.2% at 1021 GMT, outperforming a 0.6% rise in the pan-European STOXX 600 index.
Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest, owned by the country's richest person, has also been repeatedly targeted by Russian attacks.
Earlier this month, a ballistic missile strike on its Kamet pig iron and steel plant in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region forced a halt to operations.
Zaporizhstal, its nearly century-old mill, temporarily closed in August after a strike that killed seven workers.
The impact of the shutdown on ArcelorMittal and global steel markets is likely to be limited because the Kryvyi Rih plant had already been operating at significantly reduced capacity since 2022, a Kepler Cheuvreux analyst told Reuters.
Investors appeared to have anticipated the decision after recent strikes, while the $1 billion impairment charge was relatively modest for a company of ArcelorMittal's size, equivalent to roughly 2% of its market capitalisation, the analyst said.
(Additional reporting by Dan Flynn and Zakarya Meliani. Editing by Michael Perry and Mark Potter)
