Wearing a heat-protective coat with hood and a visor, Sergiy peered down into a glowing orange stream of searing liquid metal at Ukraine's Zaporizhstal steel plant.
Since the war started, Ukraine's metal industry, located mainly in frontline regions, has lost factories, staff, suppliers and access to vital export hubs. But they have also become symbols of Ukraine's military resistance: the Azov battalion resisted Russian forces while holed up in Metinvest's Azovstal steel works during the ultimately unsuccessful defence of the port city of Mariupol.
Despite the fighting nearby, Myronenko said Zaporizhstal was producing around 70 percent of pre-war volumes with most production headed for the United States or Europe.Residents look at destroyed Russian armored military vehicles in Kryvyi Rig, the Ukrainian leader's hometown regularly shelled by Russian forces.
The ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rig plant -- owned by a Luxembourg-based holding company -- had 26,000 workers before the war but now employs about 12,000 full-time.Due to production cuts, some staff have gone on compulsory downtime on 2/3 wages while others are fighting or have moved away.The plant idled its furnaces after Russia's invasion and paused water-cooled equipment this summer after a major dam breach blamed on Russian forces.