Photo from UNIAN
Steelmakers Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works (Donetsk region) and Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works, as well as Krasnodon-based coking coal producer for metallurgy Krasnodonvuhillia (two latter in Luhansk region) – all three are located in temporarily uncontrolled territory of Ukraine – have ceased work due to a trade blockade by Ukrainian activists in the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone in eastern Ukraine, according to the blockade center.
"As of today, Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works, Krasnodonvuhillia, and Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works have stopped production in the occupied territory," the blockade center said on Facebook.
February 22 was the 28th day of the blockade, it said.
Read alsoG7: Blockade of coal supplies from occupied Donbas threatens Ukraine's energy security"Since then, the Bohdan roadblock near the Svitlanove railway station in Luhansk region has blocked 20,100 railcars attempting to cross the demarcation line. The Zaporizhia roadblock set up near the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk region has stopped about 12,000 railcars, and the 16th volunteer battalion's roadblock located near the Kryvyi Torets station in Donetsk region did not let 37,400 railcars cross the line," the center said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in late January a group of Donbas war veterans and some Members of Parliament initiated a blockade of rail tracks used to transport anthracite coal from the temporarily uncontrolled areas to Ukraine's thermal power stations. The Ukrainian government reported the supplies completely stalled on February 10. Participants in the blockade also announced plans to block all the railway lines and roads.
On February 21, 2017, Мetinvest mining and steel group's press service announced that Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works and Krasnodonvuhillia had stopped. On February 22, 2017, Dniprovsky Iron and Steel Works in Ukrainian-controlled Dnipropetrovsk region reported all shipments of coke from Alchevsk Coking Plant had been suspended.