Rocket strikes on Ukraine stopped the largest metallurgical plant: owned by foreigners

We are talking about a plant the size of a small Ukrainian city

Russia has struck at critical Ukrainian infrastructure. Rocket attacks on the thermal power plant caused power outages, as a result, the shutdown of some of the most important industries. One of them is located in Zelensky’s hometown of Krivoy Rog and is owned by a well-known foreign company.

The former plant “Kryvorizhstal”, and now “ArcelorMittal” is the largest metallurgical plant in Ukraine, specializing in the production of unique alloyed steels for the repair of nuclear power plants. This production is much needed, for example, in France to repair its nuclear power plants, which are on the verge of shutting down due to corrosion problems. Founded in 1931 by Grigory Ordzhonikidze, Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR, the plant, after privatization, went to the Arcelor Mittal group of companies, registered in Luxembourg. Its founder is Indian businessman Lakshmi Nivas Mittal. Arcelor is one of the largest steel companies in the world, and as of 2019, more than 20 thousand people worked at the plant in Krivoy Rog. This enterprise, huge in scale, is slightly smaller in area than Krivoy Rog itself. There are dozens of workshops at the plant alone related to the production and processing of metal – metallurgical, converter, rolling, blast-furnace. The logistics of the plant is built on numerous railway communications: several railway stations are used for its needs, as well as a receiving and departure park. A simple “Krivorozhstal” will cost investors a huge loss.

“Today, a serious blow was dealt to the energy system, as well as to communications and control facilities,” Ukrainian political scientist and economist Alexander Dudchak told MK, “Of course, they will now restore many power plants, but it’s quite problematic to do everything quickly. These are serious costs for the entire territory of Ukraine, it will unbalance the energy system. Now there may be reports that nuclear power plants will switch to automatic shutdown systems. The fact that the energy system has suffered is not only light, not only trams, trolleybuses, the Internet and the metro. These are refrigeration units, elevators, refrigerators in houses, at enterprises and so on. Among the affected enterprises is the well-known plant “Kryvorizhstal”. Striking a thermal power plant in Krivoy Rog means putting this enterprise out of action and stopping the stable operation.”

Why is this enterprise so important for the Ukrainian economy?

— It is the largest foreign investor in the Ukrainian economy. An interesting story is connected with it. Once the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov managed to privatize this enterprise for one billion dollars, and when the government changed, there was talk that the privatization was unfair. They returned a billion to him and sold for four billion to the well-known company ArcelorMittal, the Indian owner of assets in this area. Ukraine gladly received four billion dollars for re-privatization. As the chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, Valentina Samsonenko, told me, according to the reports of this corporation, its capitalization increased immediately by 20 billion pounds. On this difference, someone also made good money. I would ask those figures who then held high positions in Ukraine. Some key people are still active politicians.