Ukraine's prized steel industry left in ruins by Russian missile campaign

Like thousands of other residents of Zaporizhzhia, Denys Maksyshko has spent years working for local steel factory Zaporizhstal. For generations, it has been the biggest and richest source of employment in this major Ukrainian city.

"Zaporizhstal is not just a big company, it's the heart of the city," he says.

Now, following a series of Russian missile strikes, this heart has stopped beating. The huge factory that employs 8,500 people shut down indefinitely after four waves of Russian attacks - two in August, and two in September.

"All the equipment has been almost completely destroyed. There are no windows left, and there are holes in the roofs. The blast furnaces have been almost completely ruined," Maksyshko complains.

Russia fired a total of 17 missiles at Zaporizhstal, according to Oleksandr Myronenko, chief operating officer of steelworks owner Metinvest. Eight workers were killed and 31 wounded.

"We're now clearing rubble and trying to plan recovery," Myronenko tells the BBC.

At the moment it is far from certain Zaporizhstal will ever start up again.

Russia's persistent campaign of air strikes against Ukrainian metallurgical plants started in August. By now, all of them have been hit, some several times.

This is a key sector of the Ukrainian economy, and naturally an attractive target for Russia.

Before the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, metallurgy and mining accounted for roughly 10% of Ukraine's GDP and a third of its exports. It provided employment for more than half a million people, and every 13th job in Ukraine was linked to the industry one way or another.

Because of the recent Russian attacks, it has all but ground to a halt and its contribution to Ukraine's GDP now "is probably close to zero", says Myronenko.

Until recently his company was Ukraine's biggest producer of steel and iron, but all its steelworks are for now out of action.

"Clearly, they're trying to stop Ukraine's economy and stop Ukraine from getting [export] money from abroad, from paying taxes and wages, from ensuring that cities live and people have jobs," says Myronenko. "Their efforts have been very effective so far."

Local Defence Council head Oleksandr Vilkul issued an emergency address to the city's residents, in which he spoke of a "very serious blow" that would affect more than just thousands of jobs.

The situation, he admitted, was very difficult.

"It is taxes feeding into our community's budget," he said. "They provided funds for keeping the city's infrastructure running, repairing heating plants and their pipes, funds for nursery schools, social services and many other things."

Taxes paid by metal-making companies have funded 30-70% of local government spending in their host cities, says Stanislav Zinchenko, head of Kyiv-based consultancy GMK Center.

"In other words, the physical survival of these cities depended on these companies," he told the BBC.

"This is a catastrophic problem for Ukraine's economy. Before the war, the mining and metallurgical industry was a key industry," he told the BBC. "It was always the biggest investor in the economy, investing $2bn-$3bn (£1.5bn-£2.3bn) a year on average."

If the steelworks remain shut, hundreds of thousands of people may lose their jobs, and the resulting waves of migration will reach far beyond Ukraine, Zinchenko warned. "A humanitarian catastrophe is looming."

The end of steelmaking in Ukraine would also have severe consequences for its defence capabilities and reconstruction.

Steel is vital for producing military equipment, as well as for making shelters and repairing countless buildings damaged by Russia.

Russia has justified its attacks on the steel plants for that reason, alleging that the plants in Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih were all producing military hardware.

"We attempted relaunching Zaporizhstal. We restarted a furnace, and it worked for 10 hours before there was another air strike," Oleksandr Vodoviz of Metinvest told a conference in Kyiv.

There was no point yet on spending money on recovery as the situation was unclear, he added.

Even if production were to resume, it would not be business as usual for Ukrainian steelmakers any time soon.

Russian attacks on railways have made transporting their products within Ukraine difficult and dangerous, and strikes against ports have turned exports into a lethal lottery.

"Ports have essentially been blocked," said Oleksandr Myronenko. "Every ship is at risk of being attacked, and their chances are 50-50 - either you make it, or you don't."

EU quotas on steel imports introduced on 1 July may compound the problems faced by Ukraine.

But Denys Maksyshko, the Zaporizhstal worker, remains upbeat.

His colleagues are doing their bit to revive the factory, clearing away rubble and fixing whatever can be fixed.

"This is similar to what the military do in the trenches. Ordinary people are fighting to keep the factory alive like soldiers."