On August 27, Russian troops attacked the Zaporizhstal plant. The plant completely stopped production on August 11, after a previous attack with ballistic missiles. Now, five ballistic missiles hit the blast furnace equipment, energy and transport infrastructure, and open areas of the plant. There were no deaths or injuries.
“Zaporizhstal is a civilian industrial enterprise, known worldwide for its cast iron, as well as rolled products for pipes, household appliances, and automotive engineering. No military products are produced here, it is not a military facility. Ordinary people work at the plant – metallurgists, blast furnace workers, repairmen, and power engineers who make steel for civilian life. Until August 11, the plant operated despite numerous attacks – we managed to restore and restart production more than once. But the attack two weeks ago is unprecedented in its consequences. First of all, in terms of human casualties. Secondly, in terms of the scale of destruction – because it crippled production as World War II once did. The civilian enterprise did not have time to recover from the August 11 strike – it was repeated again on August 27: the same ballistics, the same sites. People are alive – that is the most important thing. The terms for restoring production exist only in theory, because we had only just cleared the rubble from the previous arrival when another one froze us,” said Oleksandr Myronenko, Operations Director of Metinvest Group.
Fortunately, the shelling on August 27 passed without any casualties or injuries: after the air raid was declared, the workers on shift managed to take shelter.
Experts are currently assessing the extent of the destruction and damage and examining the production, energy and transport infrastructure to determine further steps.
The previous attack on August 11 claimed the lives of eight Zaporizhstal employees. The civilians, including repairmen, a ladle operator, a bunker foreman, a repairman, and an electric and gas welder, were all victims of this attack. Another 26 employees were injured. Russian ballistic missiles hit the plant just two minutes after the airstrike.
The main blast furnace equipment, power units, and the company’s infrastructure suffered the most damage. After emergency emergency repairs, the plant began dismantling the damaged structures to gain access to the equipment, assess the extent of the damage, and determine restoration options. Since production was completely halted, the number of employees at the plant was limited, while maintaining the team.
Despite a complete shutdown of production and limited personnel presence, Russia has again attacked Zaporizhstal. This is further evidence that Russian forces are systematically targeting civilian industrial infrastructure and the people who work there. (Zaporizhstal)