Avdiivka Coke Plant is fighting for survival

On the night of December 7, the Avdiivka Coke Plant of Metinvest Group lost its power supply. Both inputs supplying the enterprise were disconnected. For more than a day, AKHZ specialists have been fighting to maintain production capacities. As of 13-30 December 8, the plant suspended coke production.

Over the past 24 hours, Avdiivka Coke has experienced several complete stops and restarts of equipment. The situation is significantly complicated by weather conditions - at such low temperatures (down to –16 ° C at night) several hours without heating can be fatal for the coke oven batteries of the enterprise.

In addition, as a result of hostilities, the supply of industrial water to the plant has been halved. For this reason, AKHZ is unable to independently generate electricity to cover at least minimal needs.

The hot water boilers of the CHPP were also shut down, the residuals of industrial water at the plant are critically low. All the houses and institutions of Avdeevka were left without heating, since there are no other sources of heating in the city.

Specialists of AKHZ and DTEK are ready to go to the place of damage to the bushings at any moment to carry out restoration work. However, permission to leave from the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) has not been received. The territory was not cleared.

General Director of AKHZ Musa Magomedov:

- All the challenges that hinder the stable operation of Europe's largest coke-chemical plant today are not technical, but military. There is no need to say once again what fate awaits Avdeyevites, what catastrophe awaits the Ukrainian economy if the AKHZ stops. Therefore, now we are in dire need of assistance from the OSCE, the JCCC, the civil-military administration and the public.

Recall that since June 2014, 320 shells exploded on the territory of the AKHZ, 9 factory workers were killed, more than 50 were injured. Over the past few months, the company has been operating on two high-voltage bushings instead of the four required.