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Russian missiles hit Lakshmi Mittal’s ArcelorMittal plant in Ukraine, 2 killed

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 17 Aug 2026

Russian missiles hit Lakshmi Mittal’s ArcelorMittal plant in Ukraine, 2 killed

Indian-origin industrialist Lakshmi Mittal’s Ukraine steel plant hit by Russian strike. Photo: ArcelorMittal’/Facebook

Ukraine has claimed that Indian-origin billionaire Lakshmi Mittal’s ArcelorMittal mining and metallurgical complex in Kryvyi Rih was targeted in Russian strikes, according to media reports.

The facility is Ukraine’s largest integrated steel plant. Local media reports said at least two people were killed and 13 others injured in the attack. A search and rescue operation is currently underway, while specialists are assessing the extent of the damage.

ArcelorMittal’s press service said on Facebook that the attack damaged the plant’s main production facilities, including energy and blast furnace infrastructure, partially disrupting production.

“As a result of the attack, the main production facilities of energy and blast furnace production were damaged and the production processes of the plant were partially stopped,” the company said.

Condemning the attack, ArcelorMittal said the facility is a civilian industrial site.

“We emphasize that our enterprise is a civilian object of the mining and metallurgical industry and we strongly condemn such insidious enemy attacks,” the company said.

The ArcelorMittal plant was previously targeted by Russian strikes in 2022. The company confirmed that two people were killed in the latest attack.

Meanwhile, overnight Russian strikes in Kyiv triggered a large-scale fire at the Petrivka book market near the Pochaina metro station in the Obolonskyi district, The Kyiv Post reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that 13 regions had come under attack during the previous week.

“The enemy launched more than 1,550 attack drones, nearly 1,560 guided aerial bombs, and 62 missiles at our cities and communities, most of them ballistic missiles of various types,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces had struck transport and energy infrastructure used by Ukrainian forces.

“Russian tactical aircraft, attack drones, missile forces and artillery struck fuel, energy and transport infrastructure used by Ukrainian troops,” the ministry said, as quoted by TASS.

It also claimed that Russian forces had targeted facilities involved in the assembly and storage of long-range drones and unmanned boats, as well as temporary deployment sites of Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries, across 159 areas.

The latest strikes come amid a sharp rise in civilian casualties in Ukraine. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said last week that civilian casualties reached their highest monthly level in July since March 2022.

Investigators verified that at least 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 injured in July, representing a 30 per cent increase from June and a 70 per cent rise compared with July 2025.

Child casualties also reached their highest level since April 2022, according to the investigators, although the actual figure is expected to be higher as verification continues.

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has now entered its fifth year, with a diplomatic resolution to the conflict still out of sight.