Occupied Donetsk Miners Threaten Strike Action Ahead of Russian Elections

Coal miners in temporarily occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk are organizing a coordinated work stoppage to coincide with Russia’s State Duma elections, protesting salary delays ranging between four and seven months, according to ASTRA on September 14.

The action, planned by the Independent Union of Miners starting September 18, involves workers submitting simultaneous formal notices of work refusal across multiple facilities.

Over ten mines in the region remain operational primarily to pump underground water, a critical function required to prevent catastrophic environmental damage and flooding.

Local authorities repeatedly failed to meet promised payout deadlines. Initial promises to clear backlogs prior to Miner’s Day and later by September 10 passed without payment, pushing expected disbursements to early next year.

Thousands of families have been forced into debt to survive. Labor representatives noted that one mine’s workforce has formally committed to stopping work, with organizing efforts active at two additional sites. Specific facility names are being withheld to prevent preemptive suppression and intimidation by local officials.

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Testimonies from inside the temporarily occupied territories detail widespread financial distress. At the Chaikyno mine, operated by Uglekom LLC, management has continuously delayed payments since March and refused to provide workers with official debt certificates needed for legal appeals.

Similar wage disruptions and mass layoffs hit Luhansk region mines in April following owner bankruptcies. Wage defaults have also surfaced within Russia itself, where over 1,700 employees at the Severny Kuzbass company in the Kemerovo region have gone unpaid since October 2025.

Russian authorities were preparing to conduct geological exploration and begin extracting raw materials from at least 18 deposits in temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed this on May 6, referencing a report delivered by the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Oleh Ivashchenko.

Zelenskyy stated that Russian forces planned to carry out geological surveys before extracting and removing valuable resources—including titanium, lithium, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, molybdenum, and graphite—from multiple sites across southern Ukrainian lands.

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