Quote:
Originally Posted by mapuc
No translation and you can only read a part of the article.
Would it mean the end of Ukrainian coal if Prokrovsk falls into Russian hands ?
There must be other places where Ukraine are mining coal.
Markus
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Ah, NZZ at it again, I forgot.
Pokrovsk has three main mines for coal, the first of it was shut down already in mid-Decembre, the last one around New years eve. That is a problem because it is a sort of coal they need for steel production. Importing this special coal puts even more strain on their finances, is expensive, and cannot compensate the loss in full.
Steel production therefore is expected to drop by one half and even two thirds. If things go wrong, even more. This effects both export steel,
and production for military demand. The coal production cannot be shifted to another mine - there is none left.
They have started to blow up the mine tunnels so that Russians cannot use them to infiltrate, or to hide in ambush. No need for civilians (=workers) being around anymore, the city is almost completely evacuated now and taken over by the military.
Again, Ukraine has lost its last coal production suitable for fuelling steel making. And even if the mine were still open, Russia has disrupted the railway lines to transport it, the railway is under full shelling, any remaining stockpiles of coal have been stopped to get moved out already weeks ago.
It is now expected that the Russians will not try to take the city but simply will completely obliterate it by bombing it into oblivion, like they did with other cities before. Ukrainians expect it will be wiped off the map like said cities before.
Dargo, with all sympathy for your bright future vision and ideal design of an energy infrastructure that is environment friendly and sexy - but what Ukraine needs is not what maybe will be in a couple of years (or not, look at their fiscal status),
but what they need NOW. Their remaining steel production is like it is: coal-depending. Wrong time to follow the German way and blow up your powerplants. Those they still have, I mean, which are not that many. 90% of their energy production is gone. Not just damaged and repairable, but destroyed.
They needed that coal desperately. Donbass was the centre of coal mining.