By Olha Hembik | 2025-06-06

WARSAW -- Once the lifeblood of Donbas, the coal mines that powered Ukraine's economy are now being left to die from neglect and deliberate destruction. In the crossfire of war and policy, Russia is dismantling the region's mining industry, one shell and shuttered shaft at a time.

Its promises to Ukrainian miners have proven empty.

Besides reneging on pledges to revitalize mining companies in occupied parts of the Donbas region, Russia is decimating the industry.

Russian firms Impex-Don and Donskie Ugli, which leased 14 mines, are returning nine to the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

Coal extraction proved unprofitable for the two firms, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported May 14, citing Russian sources.

Russia controls between 70 and 114 mines in occupied territory, estimates suggest Initially, Russia planned to continue operating 15 mines seized since 2014. Now, it is abandoning even those. The Russian Ministry of Energy has decided to liquidate most mining companies in that area.

Meanwhile, Russian forces are destroying mines in Ukrainian-held Donbas through daily shelling and bombing.

'They took out everything they could'

The Ukrainian government once heavily subsidized the coal industry, allocating billions of hryvnias annually, said Mykhailo Volynets, a Ukrainian lawmaker and leader of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine (NPGU).

Ukraine maintained scientific research institutes and mine rescue services in the Donetsk coal basin -- resources that Russia lacked, Volynets told Kontur. When Russian forces arrived, they found active mines and looted equipment, high-voltage power lines and nonferrous metals, he said, citing accounts from miners. "They took out everything they could."

According to his calculations, Ukrainian mines produced 83.6 million tons of coal in 2013. After Russia's occupation of parts of Donbas in 2014, production fell to 65 million tons. Last year, it dropped to 22.9 million tons.

Russia now controls 95% of Luhansk's territory and its coal companies, giving it access to almost 1 billion tons of coking coal, some of the most valuable grades in Europe, said Volynets.

It has just one problem: extracting the coal.

The privatization of Donbas mines was arranged directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, involving Moscow officials at multiple levels, said Volynets.

"Putin intervened to hand control to his oligarchs," Volynets said.

Afterward, many miners lost their jobs. Some relocated to Russia; others fled to Ukrainian-held areas or elsewhere in Europe.

"Nearly all the men from the mining towns who were recruited to fight against Ukraine have died," he said.

Shelling mines

Last November, Volynets visited the Pokrovske Coal Company in Donetsk province with British volunteers delivering humanitarian aid. That same day, Russian shelling struck the mine.

Although Volynets and the volunteers had already left, miners were trapped underground without power from evening until 1am. Despite the conditions, the mine was still producing 17,000 tons of high-quality coal daily, he said.

By late 2024, continued shelling destroyed the facility, forcing its closure. Pokrovske had been Ukraine's only producer of coking coal and held significant reserves, Volynets added.

On May 29, Russian forces shelled the Dobropilska mine. The attack hit the mine and surrounding towns near Dobropillia, trapping miners as deep as 1,000 meters underground, said Volynets.

With no power, the mine began flooding and filling with gas. Ongoing shelling temporarily prevented electricians from restoring power and blocked rescue workers from carrying out emergency operations, he said.

On two consecutive days, May 29 and 30, Russian troops shelled the Almazna and Bilozerska mines in Dobropillia.

"We can't let the Russians benefit from making miners jobless ... we all, a thousand of us, would immediately go fight, and that would not end well for them," quipped Dmytro Zeleny, leader of the local miners' union at the Bilozerska mine.

Recent shelling severely damaged the Bilozerska mine's surface structures, he told Kontur. Evacuating miners during attacks requires significant effort and resources.

Currently, only about 15% of Bilozerska's miners remain on the job; the rest have taken up arms to defend the country, he said.

After the war, Zeleny warned, Ukraine will face a shortage of skilled workers in the coal industry.

The environment and the future of the region

The economic losses are not the only problem the war has brought into the mining region.

It has triggered an environmental crisis, said Volynets.

"Contaminated mine water has started to rise to the surface, salting and polluting the strata of the fertile soil, and polluting rivers too," he explained.

Volynets said Russian forces halted water pumping at the Holubovska mine, and flooding at the Zolote mine has polluted the Siverskyi Donets river.

The Lysychansk water filtration plant, which once supplied clean water to Alchevsk, was destroyed. Now, Volynets said, pollution levels in the Siverskyi Donets exceed acceptable standards several times over, threatening not just Ukraine but the broader region.

Any postwar recovery in Donbas must include a shift to alternative energy, Anastasiia Bushovska, an energy policy analyst at the NGO Ecoaction, said.

Ukraine plans to phase out coal by 2035, but the industry has long struggled, she told Kontur, citing widespread flooding and destruction of mines.

"It doesn't make sense to repair flooded mines, and it's often impossible anyway. So it's important to map out a future for the region and our lives that doesn't include coal," Bushovska said.

"The best solution could be repurposing the mines' intact infrastructure for new types of activities."

However, Ukraine can make no plans until combat stops.