Russian attack destroys DTEK coal facility in Donetsk region

On Tuesday, August 26, Russian troops attacked DTEK Energy’s coal processing plant in Donetsk region. As a result, the plant’s building was destroyed and its equipment suffered severe damage.

All workers on shift at the time survived. Emergency services quickly extinguished the fire that broke out after the strike.

Due to the frontline’s advance and the growing threat to employees’ lives, the company had earlier been forced to suspend operations. Production processes were preserved for a future restart once the security situation improves, and most staff (except for on-duty personnel) were reassigned to other company facilities.

Currently, the company’s operations are completely paralyzed, and its processing facilities remain in ruins.

DTEK has not disclosed the name of the plant targeted in the attack. However, on August 26 reports emerged that one of its mines in Dobropillia had come under fire. The town is also home to the Dobropillia Central Enrichment Plant, which has supplied Ukrainian thermal power plants with fuel since 1952 by converting raw coal into concentrate.

According to the head of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions, MP Mykhailo Volynets, Russian forces have destroyed most of the coal infrastructure in Donbas.

"The Bilytska mine in the area has already been destroyed, the Dobropillia enrichment plant has been destroyed, the Krasnolymanska mine has been destroyed, the Pokrovske mine—once the world’s most powerful mining operation—has been destroyed, and the Kapitalna mine, one of the strongest, has been destroyed. The Pokrovske, Krasnolymanska and Kapitalna mines still hold around 100 million tonnes of valuable coal reserves underground," he said on Tuesday on News.Live.

• As a result of the shutdown of Pokrovske Coal Group, Metinvest cut its coal concentrate output by half in the first quarter of 2025.