Kryvyi Rih may be left without electricity and drinking water: why KZHRK’s debts threaten the entire city
29 September 17:20
In Kryvyi Rih, residents of several neighborhoods are facing an environmental and man-made disaster. Due to a large debt for electricity, KZHRK may cut off electricity. This will make it impossible to pump out mine water at the Kozatska (formerly Hvardiyska) mine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
This could result in a man-made disaster (houses will simply fall into the void), blackouts (40,000 Kryvyi Rih residents will be left without electricity) and river pollution. The latter, in turn, will lead to problems with drinking water in the city.
Kryvyi Rih may go underground because of the mine’s debts: how the local authorities are reacting
The city appealed to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to immediately intervene in the situation to prevent a man-made disaster.
The document states that formally, the conflict between DTEK Dniprovski Elektromerezhi (which plans to disconnect the JSC from the power supply for debts to the supplier Your Energopostachalnyk) and Kryvbaszhelezrudok is a dispute between business entities that the city authorities cannot influence.
But the consequences will affect the entire city. Without electricity, the pumping of mine water will stop, which will lead to a rise in groundwater, flooding of old mines, cave-ins and landslides. Homes, businesses, critical infrastructure and entire neighborhoods could be at risk.
There is a risk of mineralized mine water entering the Ingulets and Saksagan rivers, which are the sources of drinking water for the entire agglomeration, which could cause serious water supply disruptions.
In addition, residential buildings, hospitals, schools, transport infrastructure, water supply and sewage systems – in total, about tens of thousands of citizens who are not guilty of the company’s debts – will be left without electricity.
Dnipropetrovs’k Regional Water Administration and Kryvyi Rih Executive Committee have been trying to resolve the conflict for more than six months and have postponed the shutdown several times, but it is not in their competence to resolve the dispute on the merits.
It should be noted that as of September 26, 2025, there is no final decision, but notifications of the blackout have already been sent out.
Miners are underground due to power outage
As a reminder, workers at Kozatska (part of KZHRK) have already faced crisis situations due to problems with electricity arrears.
Thus, according to local Telegram channels, on July 10, 2024, the miners could not get to the surface for 4 hours. The morning shift was supposed to come to the surface at 14:00, but the miners began to be raised to the surface after 18:00. The miners’ relatives claimed that the threatening situation arose because the mines had turned off the electricity.
The townspeople also emphasized that the mine had no backup power generators to help in this case.
At the time, the company’s management refused to comment officially.
Conflict between KZHRK and an electricity supplier: what is known
At the end of June 2025, the Commercial Court of Dnipropetrovska oblast opened bankruptcy proceedings against Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Plant (KZHRK). The reason is that the company owes UAH 156.9 million to Your Energy Supplier LLC for electricity supplied in January-March.
The debtor filed for bankruptcy on May 23, 2025, after which the NRCS paid the supplier about UAH 55.9 million.
In addition, the company still owes UAH 96.2 thousand. The funds are to be used to pay court fees and advance remuneration to the insolvency receiver.
Another 49.84% of KZHRK’s shares may be recovered as state revenue in the case currently being considered by the HACCU under the lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice against the sanctioned Russian citizens Alexander Babakov (State Duma deputy), Evgeny Giner (Central Committee of Moscow), Mikhail Voevodin and others.
It is now known that the court imposed a moratorium on satisfaction of creditors’ claims and introduced a procedure for disposing of the debtor’s property until November 26, 2025. Arsen Yurynets has been appointed as the administrator.
But this is not the only debt-related financial conflict of the JSC. In July 2025, it became known that 7 more companies are demanding that the plant repay more than UAH 210 million in debts through the court.
These are:
- DTEK Dnipro Power Grids
- Okhoda-Dnipro
- Lozuvata Housing and Utility Company
- Techno-Export
- Silva Virdis
- ASP Kryvyi Rih
- Zhydachiv Pulp and Paper Mill
Homes without heating and citizens in the cold: KZHRK failed to provide people with heat
On top of that, Kryvyi Rih residents were also left without heating due to KZHRK’s debt. In particular, this applies to 15 houses and a dormitory located on Heroiv Krut Street (Ternivka district of the city). Currently, 190 people live in the houses alone.
In previous years, the townspeople received heat from the company’s boiler house. However, due to cash debts, KZHRK could not start the heating season on time. Therefore, a modular boiler house had to be installed.
Mines are idle, workers are paid minimum wages
KZHRK employees also complain that they have not been paid for a long time.
Earlier, in March 2025, the plant put most of its employees on idle time due to problems with sales, electricity payments and VAT refunds. Before that, it limited salary payments to UAH 7 thousand.
This happened because the company was not refunded UAH 180 million in VAT refunds due to sanctions against KZHRK’s shareholders. 90% of the ore remained in warehouses and only 10% was sold to foreign consumers.
“Emissions case”: why the Ministry of Environment did not reach an agreement with the plant
In addition to financial problems, the company had difficulties with the Ministry of the Environment. In September 2024, it became known that KZHRK was denied an emissions permit. The reasons for this included incorrect paperwork and inaccurate information in the documents. Back in the summer, environmental activists in Kryvyi Rih also spoke about this.
What you need to know about
Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Plant JSC is Ukraine’s largest underground iron ore mining enterprise. It includes mines:
- “Kryvorizka
- “Pokrovskaya
- “Kozatskaya
- “Ternovskaya
- and other structural units.
KZHRK is the legal successor of the Soviet Kryvbasruda, with historical roots dating back to the beginning of industrial development of the Kryvyi Rih basin in the 19th century. The company operates several mines and structural units within Kryvyi Rih; according to official data, the plant annually produces millions of tons of high-quality ore (according to various sources, capacity estimates range from 5 to 7 million tons per year).
The company is legally registered as a joint-stock company with the USREOU 00191307, registered on 30.07.2001; public registers contain its legal address in Kryvyi Rih, staff contact details and management. According to the registers, the authorized capital of the plant is significant, and its main activity is officially classified as iron ore mining.
KZHRK is formally registered as a joint-stock company (USREOU code 00191307). The current head of the company is Sergey Novak.
Ukrrudprom is considered to be the owner of all the company’s shares. However, there are a number of legal nuances associated with this.
De facto, the company is controlled on a parity basis by Rinat Akhmetov’ s SCM and Ihor Kolomoisky‘s structures.
According to YouControl, Akhmetov is the ultimate beneficial owner of the KZHRK shares with a 49.94% stake through Starmill Limited (Cyprus).
As for Ihor Kolomoisky, in February 2023, it became known that the Ukrainian businessman sold his shares in the company (50%) for $926 million to Russian Mikhail Voevodin .
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It is also worth recalling that in 2017, the High Court of London ruled in favor of PrivatBank and imposed a worldwide freeze on the assets of Kolomoisky and his partner Gennadiy Boholyubov until the end of the trial. The following year, Kolomoisky provided the court with a list of assets, which included the right to receive $926.8 million in compensation for Kadis. Kadis owns 50% of Starmill Limited, which is already the direct owner of KZHRK.
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