ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih begins two-month cold shutdown after Russian missile strikes
Ukraine's largest mining and metallurgical enterprise, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, is being placed into a cold shutdown over roughly two months following a series of Russian missile attacks. The company says it will conserve its industrial assets and intends to resume work after the war ends, while explicitly stating that the ArcelorMittal group is not leaving Ukraine.
Key points
- ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has begun transitioning its operations into a cold shutdown mode.
- The cold shutdown process is expected to span approximately two months, covering preparation for the halt, execution, and conservation of industrial assets.
- The decision follows four Russian missile attacks on the enterprise; six employees were killed and 18 were injured in the strikes.
- Primary metallurgical production at the facility had already been halted as a result of the attacks.
- CEO Mauro Longobardo said the ArcelorMittal group is not leaving Ukraine and described preserving workers and assets as the company's top priority.
- Longobardo said safe operation of the enterprise is impossible while the war continues, and that after the war the company will hold talks with the Ukrainian government on resuming work.
- ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is described as the largest enterprise of Ukraine's mining and metallurgical complex, with a full production cycle from ore extraction to finished rolled metal products.
Why it matters
The largest enterprise of Ukraine's mining and metallurgical complex is being put into a preserved, non-operating state — a significant contraction in a pillar of Ukrainian heavy industry. The decision was triggered directly by repeated Russian missile strikes that killed and injured employees and already halted primary metallurgical production. The leadership's insistence that the ArcelorMittal group is not leaving Ukraine, combined with a stated post-war resumption plan, frames the shutdown as a wartime conservation measure rather than a withdrawal, but the episode underlines how the war is forcing internationally owned industrial assets in Ukraine to suspend operations for safety reasons, with implications for employment, output and post-war reconstruction planning.
What happened
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has begun the process of transitioning the enterprise into a cold shutdown mode. The procedure is expected to take roughly two months and will include preparation for a safe production halt, the halt itself, and conservation of the site's industrial assets, with the stated goal of being able to resume work once hostilities end. The decision follows four Russian missile attacks on the enterprise, which killed six employees and injured 18 (with one source putting the number of injured at "more than 18") and which had already forced a stop to primary metallurgical production at the facility. General Director Mauro Longobardo said the company's priority is to preserve its workers and industrial assets so production can be resumed later, that the ArcelorMittal group is not leaving Ukraine, and that safe operation of the enterprise is impossible while the war continues. He added that after the war the company will start a dialogue with the Ukrainian government to reassess whether operations can be safely and sustainably restarted.
Where reporting differs
Ukrainian sources differ slightly on the number of employees injured in the missile strikes: one source reports exactly 18 injured, while another puts the figure at "more than 18".
Background
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is described as the largest enterprise of Ukraine's mining and metallurgical complex, with a full production cycle from ore extraction to finished rolled metal products. The cold shutdown is structured as a staged procedure — preparation, the halt itself, and subsequent conservation of industrial assets — designed to leave the site in a state from which work can resume once conditions allow. At the end of September, before the formal transition began, the company had already publicly stated that it could not safely and stably resume operations at the plant following the series of strikes.