KIEV, Oct. 23 - Ukraine will take urgent measures to save the country’s steel and mining sector, which has been reducing output dramatically in reaction to falling demand worldwide, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Thursday.

At an emergency government meeting early Thursday, Tymoshenko appointed Vitaliy Hayduk, her top economic advisor, to lead the team that will come up with the list of measures to be approved.

The development shows the degree of concern at the government over the sector, the backbone of Ukraine’s economy, hit hard in August and September by the slowdown in the world’s demand for steel.