The loss of Pokrovsk will lead to a 50% drop in Ukraine’s steel production.

If Pokrovsk is lost, steel production in Ukraine may fall by more than 50% due to a shortage of coking coal, said the head of Association of Enterprises Ukrmetalurgprom, Oleksandr Kalenkov.

He noted that in Ukrainian-controlled territory sufficient resources now remain to produce 12 million tons of steel per year, but in the first two years of the full-scale war, the volume of steel production in Ukraine amounted to 6-6.5 million tons per year.

“This year, we can reach 7.5 million tons. In the event of the loss of Pokrovsk, it will be 2-3 million tons,” said Kalenkov.

He notes that in Pokrovsk there remains the only mine under Ukrainian control – Pokrovske Mining Administration, which produces coking coal for metallurgy, so if control over the city is lost, a coking coal deficiency will result.