The head of the Ukrainian metals company Metinvest has called Russia’s advances in eastern Ukraine “alarming” and called on the US to urgently approve a suspended military aid package after Russia seized Avdiivka and took full control of Metinvest’s coking coal plant on Monday, the 19th of February, thus losing another of the company’s facilities after the Azovstal steel plant, reports Reuters.
The front line is now 40 kilometres from Pokrovsk, where Metinvest operates Ukraine’s largest coal mine and largest steel plant in Zaporizhzhia, further south.
“The (Russian) progress over the past week is quite worrying,” Metinvest Chief Executive Yury Ryzhenkov told Reuters on Monday in the company’s first reaction to the fall of Avdiivka.
Referring to possible attacks in Pokrovsk and Zaporizhzhia, he noted that the vast scale of the infrastructure only requires basic preparations for evacuation. “It is impossible to prepare for such things”, he said, “everything must be done to avoid them”.
He stressed the urgent need for weapons and support for the army.
The 60 billion US dollar package has been held up for months by disagreements between Democrats and Republicans on domestic immigration. After a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich over the weekend, US Vice-President Kamala Harris called the delays “political games”.
Ryzhenkov expressed concern about the situation and criticised the lack of commitment of some allies, referring to the delay in US support. “The message is quite clear”, he added, “please don’t leave us behind, it’s as simple as that”.
The iron and steel sector employed around 600 000 people before the war and accounted for around 10% of Ukraine’s GDP, however, the reopening of some sea lanes over the past six months has contributed to the recovery after a sharp fall in 2022.
Ryzhenkov noted that port capacities are almost at the pre-invasion levels. He expressed optimism that Metinvest’s iron ore plants could recover to 75% capacity this year, and steel plants to around 65%.
However, some 9 000-10 000 workers have been conscripted into the army and a plan to increase the number of conscripts is being pushed through Parliament. Ryzhenkov said that they are short of workers to meet full capacity, with new recruits being drafted in before they start work.
Also read: Russia seizes Avdiivka, as Kyiv cites ammunition shortage
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