On the night of 7 December, Metinvest Group’s Avdeyevka Coke was cut off from power supply, with its two power inputs de-energised. Avdeyevka Coke has been fighting to preserve its production facilities for more than a day. As of 13:30 on 8 December, the plant suspended the discharge of coke.
Over the past day, Avdeyevka Coke had to stop and restart the equipment several times. The situation is aggravated by the weather: with such low temperatures (down to -16° C at night), coke batteries can die if not heated for several hours.
In addition, process water supply was halved because of the hostilities, so the plant can’t generate electricity to cover its essential needs at least.
Water-heating boilers at the combined heat and power plant have been stopped as well, and current process water reserves are critically low. All the residential houses and institutions in Avdeyevka are left without heating, as the town has no other heating sources.
The plant and DTEK are ready to repair the damaged power inputs at any moment, but the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination has not granted a corresponding permission yet. The site has not been cleared of mines.
Avdeyevka Coke CEO Musa Magomedov:
“The challenges that prevent stable operations of Europe’s largest coke plant are of military rather than technical nature. I don’t have to repeat once again what fate awaits locals and what disaster awaits the Ukrainian economy if Avdeyevka Coke stops operations. Today, we urgently need the help from the OSCE, the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination, military and civil administration and the public.”
Since June 2014, 320 shells have exploded, nine workers have been killed and more than 50 people injured at the plant. During the past few months, Avdeyevka Coke operated with two out of four high-voltage power inputs.