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By John Feng and Ellie Cook
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Ukraine has halted production at a vital site in the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk that supplies the country's steel industry.
Reuters reported on Monday, citing two industry sources, that the country's only coking coal mine supplying Ukraine's steel manufacturing was shut down as advancing Russian forces close in on the site.
Metinvest, which owns the Pokrovsk plant, said in a statement on Tuesday that it had stopped operations at "Pokrovske Coal due to the evolving frontline conditions, power supply shortages and the deteriorating security situation." The company said it was still assessing the impact, and that the facility remained in Ukrainian-held territory.
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Why It Matters
Moscow has been steadily advancing towards the Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk for months. It has been dubbed a "fortress" settlement, key to Ukrainian defenses in the east and connected to other critical defensive cities.
Western analysts and Ukrainian officials say Russia has not fought inside the city, but has skirted around Pokrovsk to the south and advanced toward the border of Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region.
Steelmaking has long been one of Ukraine's dominant industries, although Moscow's full-scale invasion nearly three years ago wreaked havoc with Ukraine's economy. The Luhansk and Donetsk regions, collectively known as the Donbas and devastated by the fiercest of the fighting, were Ukraine's industrial heartland.
Ukraine's steelmakers' association, Ukrmetallurgprom, has described the steel industry as "the backbone of the Ukrainian economy."
Metinvest is one of Ukraine's largest companies, and lost a huge chunk of its steelmaking capacity when Russia took control of the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol in 2022.
What To Know
One industry source told Reuters that "there's no production" at the Pokrovsk facility, and that employees were being evacuated. Metinvest confirmed on Tuesday that it had evacuated personnel and family members from the site.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Monday it had captured Pischane, a village southwest of Pokrovsk. Metinvest said last month it had suspended use of a coal mining shaft and administrative building at Pischane, evacuating personnel and their family members "as the frontline approaches and shelling intensifies."
The Pischane site accounted for around half of the company's total coal extraction in the country, the company said, but added its other "key facilities" were still up and running.
A spokesperson for Ukraine's Khortytsia group of forces operating in eastern Ukraine said on Sunday that Moscow was trying to "bypass" Pokrovsk and the town of Myrnohrad, east of Pokrovsk, by taking control of settlements to the south.
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The Kremlin is attempting to "cut off the logistics chains from there, so as not to go after the well-prepared defense that is already there," Major Viktor Tregubov said in remarks reported by Ukrainian media.
Andriy Cherniak, a senior official in Ukraine's military intelligence agency, told the Financial Times on Sunday that Russian forces had calculated they would sustain high losses trying to seize control of Pokrovsk, "so they have decided to pursue a different strategy and approach from the south and go around it."
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank, which tracks daily changes to the frontline, said on Monday that Russian forces had "cut" two key highways leading to Pokrovsk, and had "advanced in other areas" southwest of the city.
What People Are Saying
One unnamed industry source told Reuters on Monday: "They have all stopped working now."
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest, in a statement on Tuesday: "Pokrovske Coal is the energy heart of Ukrainian metallurgy, providing a significant share of export revenues to Ukraine's budget. However, faced with a deteriorating security situation, we cannot risk the lives of thousands of employees and their families. The suspension of operations is a necessary step to preserve lives during these challenging times. We believe in Ukraine's victory, in the strength of our armed forces, and we are prepared to resume operations at Pokrovske Coal and rebuild Pokrovsk after the [R]ussian invasion is repelled."
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank on Monday: "Russian forces recently cut the T-0504 Pokrovsk-Kostyantynivka highway east of Pokrovsk and the T-0406 Pokrovsk-Mezhova highway southwest of Pokrovsk as part of their efforts to envelop Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad."
What Happens Next
Russian forces will likely continue advancing to the southwest of Pokrovsk, with its territorial gains in Donetsk set to threaten more vital Ukrainian sites as questions hang over a possible ceasefire deal brokered by incoming President Donald Trump.
Update 1/14/25, 9:51 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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