On 27 August 2026, Russia's army attacked Zaporizhstal. The enterprise fully halted its production on 11 August 2026 after a previous ballistic attack. Today, five ballistic missiles have struck equipment of the blast furnace shop, as well as the energy and transport infrastructure and the enterprise's open areas. There were no deaths or injuries.
"Zaporizhstal is a civil industrial enterprise, known worldwide for its pig iron, as well as rolled products used in pipes, household appliances, and automotive manufacturing. No military products are manufactured here, it is not a military facility. Ordinary people — metallurgists, blast furnace operators, repairmen, and power engineers — work at the enterprise, producing steel for civilian life. Before 11 August, the plant had been operating despite numerous attacks; we managed to restore and restart production several times. However, the attack that happened two weeks ago was unprecedented in terms of its consequences. First of all, because of the loss of life. Secondly, because of the scale of destruction, as it damaged production facilities on a level comparable to that of the Second World War. The enterprise had not yet recovered from the strike of 11 August when it was hit again on 27 August: the same ballistic missiles, the same areas. The most important thing is that people are safe. Any timeline for restoring production exists only in theory, because we had only just cleared the debris from the previous strike when another missile attack hit the enterprise," said Oleksandr Myronenko, Chief Operations Officer of Metinvest Group.
Fortunately, the attack on 27 August resulted in no casualties or injured: after the air raid alert was issued, shift workers managed to reach shelters.
Currently, specialists are assessing the extent of the damage and examining the production, energy, and transport infrastructure to determine the next steps.
The previous attack on 11 August took the lives of eight Zaporizhstal employees. Maintenance technicians, a ladle operator, a hopper crew leader, a repair foreman, and an electric and gas welder — civilians heading to shelters — became victims of the attack. Other 26 employees sustained injuries. Russia's ballistic missiles struck the enterprise only two minutes after the air raid alert had been announced.
The biggest damage was inflicted on the main equipment of the blast furnace operation, the energy facilities, and the enterprise's infrastructure. After urgent emergency repairs at the enterprise, the dismantling of damaged structures was initiated to gain access to equipment, assess the extent of destruction, and determine the possibilities for recovery. As production was fully suspended, the number of employees at the enterprise was reduced while preserving the team.
Despite the full stoppage of production and the limited presence of personnel, Russia attacked Zaporizhstal once again. This is further evidence that the Russian army systematically targets civilian industrial infrastructure and the people who work there.