Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill in Obukhiv, one of Ukraine’s largest producers of containerboard and corrugated packaging, has halted production after a second attack in less than a month.
On April 3, 2026, the company confirmed that its facilities were hit during a Russian Shahed drone attack — part of a massive overnight strike that Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described as involving nearly 500 drones and cruise missiles. “This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals — with brutal attacks,” Sybiha stated. The strike on the mill followed a missile attack on March 14 that had already damaged production buildings, administrative areas and infrastructure. After the latest blow, the mill suspended operations to ensure safety and assess the damage.
The plant operates two paper machines producing testliner and fluting, forming a significant share of containerboard supply for the domestic corrugated market, along with two machines producing sanitary and hygiene paper.
The corrugated board production at Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Plant (KKPK) is based on modern high-performance equipment from leading European manufacturers. The corrugating section is equipped with two BHS corrugators (Germany) with a working width of 2500 mm, providing a total nominal capacity of up to 355–360 million sq. m of corrugated board per year (including three- and five-ply grades). For the converting of corrugated sheets into finished packaging (boxes, trays, partitions and complex die-cut items), the plant uses advanced lines from BOBST (Switzerland), such as the Masterline 2.1, Flexo Vision series and Masterfold folding-gluing machines, which ensure high-quality flexo printing, precise rotary and flat-bed die-cutting, as well as accurate folding and gluing at high speeds.
It is one of the largest integrated paper and board production sites in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. The mill’s ultimate beneficial owner is Austrian businessman Heinz Zinner, CEO of Vienna-based Pulp Mill Holding — a company that has continued investing in the plant throughout the war, most recently committing €19 million to equipment modernisation and environmental upgrades.
The mill is a city-forming enterprise for Obukhiv, a town of around 30,000 people located approximately 30 kilometres south of Kyiv. Several thousand employees work at the plant, and a substantial part of the local economy depends on its operation. Beyond industrial production, the mill provides waste recycling and district heating services to Obukhiv, effectively subsidising these functions for the community even when tariffs do not cover actual costs.
The shutdown comes in a broader context of sustained attacks on Ukraine’s industrial and energy infrastructure. Over the winter period, Russian forces carried out large-scale strikes targeting the country’s power system. Millions of people experienced prolonged blackouts, often in sub-zero temperatures. In Kyiv and surrounding regions, many residents temporarily left their homes due to the lack of electricity and heating.
A key regional energy facility that supplied electricity to the entire Obukhiv district was also lost: the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant, the most powerful station in the Kyiv region with a capacity of 1,800 MW and the primary electricity supplier to Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Zhytomyr regions, was completely destroyed by Russian missile strikes in April 2024. The station has not been restored. Its destruction significantly reduced grid stability for the entire region, including industrial consumers such as the Obukhiv mill.
Since the beginning of 2026, Ukraine has faced continued waves of missile and drone attacks, including large numbers of Shahed-type UAVs and cruise missiles targeting cities, logistics hubs and energy facilities. The Kyiv region remains one of the primary targets due to its concentration of infrastructure and industry.
The halt of the Obukhiv mill adds to earlier losses in Ukraine’s pulp and corrugated sector. The Rubizhne Cardboard and Packaging Plant in Luhansk region — co-owned by British packaging giant DS Smith, which held a 49.6% stake alongside Cypriot-registered Komelinco Trading — was destroyed during fighting in 2022. The plant, which served a city of over 56,000 people and ran three paper machines and two corrugators, was reduced to ruins. DS Smith later exited its Ukrainian shareholding in 2023. The corrugated plant in Rohan near Kharkiv suffered severe damage from shelling. The Dunapack plant in Oleshky, Khersoщn region, was destroyed after the occupation of the area. In several of these cases, attacks on industrial facilities resulted in fatalities among employees and civilians.
Before the latest strike, the Obukhiv mill had continued operating without interruption since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 — a fact its management cited as a symbol of industrial resilience. The current suspension marks the first forced halt and a further reduction in domestic containerboard and corrugated production capacity.
The company has not disclosed the full extent of the damage or a timeline for restarting operations.
corruga.expert
