LONDON, September 20. /TASS/. Ukraine has virtually lost its entire steel industry, the Financial Times (FT) reported, citing Aleksandr Vodoviz, head of the CEO's office at the Metinvest group of companies.

"As of today, [Ukraine] doesn’t have a steel industry anymore," he said.

On September 12, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a successful strike on a plant in Krivoy Rog that manufactured metallurgical products for weaponry and military hardware production. Additionally, Ukrainian media have reported numerous explosions at industrial facilities across the city since the beginning of the month.

According to the FT, the strikes damaged blast furnaces at three facilities, including two plants owned by Metinvest and an ArcelorMittal facility in Krivoy Rog. The newspaper noted that these shutdowns halted operations at plants that collectively accounted for 90% of the country's total steel production.

"Right now, we do not understand how long it will take to make the repairs, days, weeks, months or years," said Vodoviz. He stressed that shutting down these facilities, which employ over 15,000 people, could trigger severe economic consequences and exert a huge impact on tax revenues.