Ukraine resumes scrap metal exports to Russian-backed Transnistria
Ukrainian scrap metal traders have resumed exports of raw material to the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria after a one-year hiatus.
The news was reported by the publications Business Censor and Oboz.ua, referring to data from the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
The exporter is the Ukrainian firm D-Kamet LLC, which also did so last year. The company delivered batches of scrap metal by rail to the Moldovan Metallurgical Plant (MMZ) in Rîbnița, an enterprise with Russian owners, under a contract. The deliveries passed through the “Nistru” customs checkpoint.
The customs documents list Moldova as the destination country, but the final delivery point is the Rîbnița railway station, which is located in Transnistria.
According to Oboz.ua, D-Kamet shipped 276 tonnes of scrap metal to MMZ in August 2024 - the first shipment since the full-scale war against Ukraine began.
The Moldovan Metallurgical Plant was previously on a sanctions list compiled by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council. It was included in May 2018 as a firm involved in Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
However, it was removed from the list in March 2019, according to radiosvoboda.org, with no official explanation.
Teleradio-Moldova asked the country’s Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalisation to comment on the matter, but has yet to receive a response.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
