Source: Ukrainian drone attack damaged Russia’s only full-cycle metallurgical plant

A Ukrainian drone strike on July 1 severely damaged the Oskol electrometallurgical plant in Belgorod Oblast, a military intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent on July 3.

Ukrainian forces regularly carry out drone strikes and acts of sabotage on Russian territory, targeting military assets, oil refineries and industrial facilities.

The plant is located near the city of Stari Oskol, almost 115 km from the Ukrainian-Russian border. According to the source, it is the only metallurgical enterprise in Russia that covers the entire production cycle.

The facility is crucial for the Russian military-industrial complex, the source noted.

The operation was reportedly carried out jointly by the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service (HUR) and the Foreign Intelligence Service. The source described the extent of the damage caused by the Ukrainian attack as “serious”.

Work at the power plant was halted after Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck two large electrical substations near the villages of Neznamovo and Volokonovskoye in Belgorod Oblast.

The Metallurgicheskaya substation near the village of Volokonovskoye is one of the largest substations in Europe, the source said.

The strikes caused a complete power outage at the plant and shut down all arc furnaces with frozen metal inside. The furnaces will need to be completely cleaned and arc elements replaced to resume operations, which could take several months, the source told the Kyiv Independent.

“Some employees of the plant believe that the furnaces need to be replaced with new ones. Given that the plant was built by German specialists using German technology, it will be difficult to resume the plant’s operation without their participation,” the source added.

The plant produces high-quality steel, including alloyed special steels (SBQ), for the automotive and mechanical engineering industries. The plant uses the explosion-free direct reduction technology MIDREX and arc melting.

The plant’s products are used by GAZ, UAZ and KamAZ, as well as other Russian military-industrial enterprises.

The Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant and its owner, Metalloinvest, were added to the US and UK sanctions lists in April 2023 in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

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