In the gigantic ArcelorMittal complex of Kryvyï Rig (South), three of the four blast furnaces are stopped, just like the iron mine and the rest is idling. In Ukraine, the war hits industry, the heart of the national economy. The last blast furnace in operation, a huge metal cathedral surrounded by colossal pipes, was in reduced activity when AFP visited. A handful of workers take turns around a small river of glowing metal.
In another hangar of this 70 km2 site, the size of two-thirds of the City of Paris, billets, large square steel beams, come out on a vast treadmill. But two other similar installations wait in silence, a little further, for work to resume. Largest “integrated” site in Ukraine, comprising an iron mine and a steelworks, the Kryvyï Rig complex is a national jewel, bought in 2005 by ArcelorMittal for 4.85 billion dollars. Its products have enabled the construction of Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world, in Dubai.
But since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the complex has experienced a huge setback. First stopped for a month, while the Russian troops were at the gates of Kryvyï Rig, it then restarted, at a much slower pace. At the end of August, production reached “between 15 and 20%” of what it was for the first eight months of 2021, estimates Artem Filipiev, the site’s deputy director.