KIEV, Jan. 12 – The acquisition of a controlling stake in the Donetk-based Industrial Union of Donbas by foreign investors is evidence of the Ukrainian metals sector's ongoing collapse as a national sector, according to Vasyl Kharakhulakh, director general of Dnipropetrovsk-based Metalurhprom industrial association.

"The Ukrainian metals sector continues melting down. There won't be a national metals sector in Ukraine," he told Interfax-Ukraine, commenting an announcement of the Industrial Union of Donbas on the sale of a 50% plus two-share stake in the corporation to the owner of Swiss trading company Carbofer, which is the former co-owner of Russia's Evrazholding, jointly with a group of financial investors including Russia's Vnesheconombank.