Russia Hits All Three of Ukraine’s Major Steel Plants, Killing Workers and Halting Kamet-Steel
Russian missiles struck the Kamet-Steel plant in Kamenske, killing workers and stopping production at what had become Ukraine’s second-largest steel producer. Ukrainian accounts say Zaporizhstal and ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih were also hit recently, meaning all three of the country’s remaining major steel plants have now come under attack.
Russia’s latest missile strike has shut down one of Ukraine’s last big steel mills and added to a pattern of attacks on the country’s heavy industry.
Overnight on 5 September, Russian forces hit the Kamet‑Steel plant in Kamenske, in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukrainian officials said five ballistic missiles were used against the industrial enterprise. Regional authorities reported that four people were killed and five wounded. A Ukrainian member of parliament said five steelworkers died and that the plant halted operations after the strike. These casualty figures differ slightly but all accounts point to multiple dead and injured workers and a full production stop.
Kamet‑Steel gained importance after the loss of the Azovstal and Ilyich plants in Mariupol early in the war, becoming Ukraine’s second‑largest steel producer. It is part of a reduced but still significant industrial base that had supported export earnings and employment.
Ukrainian reporting says this latest attack follows strikes on the Zaporizhstal mill in Zaporizhzhia and the ArcelorMittal plant in Kryvyi Rih. Taken together, Ukrainian sources say all three of the country’s remaining major steel plants have now been hit. In the Kamet‑Steel case, Ukrainian accounts identify North Korean KN‑23 ballistic missiles as the weapons used.
Beyond the destroyed equipment and halted furnaces, the impact falls directly on workers and surrounding communities. The Kamet‑Steel plant had provided jobs and, even during the war, a measure of stability. Its shutdown leaves employees facing sudden loss of income and uncertainty over whether and when operations can resume.
The strikes also constrain Ukraine’s ability to supply its own steel for repairs and infrastructure inside the country. While the wider economic effects are not fully detailed in the available material, the repeated targeting of big mills marks an escalation in pressure on core industrial assets far from the front line.
What happens next will be visible in whether Kamet‑Steel can restart any part of its production, how Ukraine positions other key industrial sites against further strikes, and whether Russia extends similar attacks to additional plants or infrastructure. Any move by Kyiv’s partners to provide more air defence specifically for industrial regions would signal growing concern over this phase of the campaign.
Sources
- OSINT