The outbreak of hostilities in eastern Ukraine in 2014 complicated the activities of the enterprise. As a result, the plant ended 2014 with a net loss of UAH 4,871.533 million. In the first nine months of 2015, the plant produced 426 thousand tons of pig iron and 1.664 million tons of grade K coal concentrate, but losses continued to increase.
In June 2016, the leadership of the unrecognized DPR introduced external management at the plant, by which time its communications and a significant part of the equipment had become unusable due to repeated shutdowns and long downtime.
Also in June 2016, on the basis of the Donetsk Electrometallurgical Plant (DEMP), the state enterprise Yuzovsky Metallurgical Plant was opened. The YuMZ industrial complex is located on the same territory as the Donetsk Metallurgical Plant, which, in turn, is located in three districts of the DPR capital at once - Voroshilovsky, Budenovsky, Leninsk.
It was Re-launched on October 5, 2017.
In 2018 YuMZ began to supply products to Turkey, Iran and Syria.
Since May 1, 2019, blast-furnace production has been stopped. The company does not manufacture products. During the heating period of 2019–2020, only the factory CHPP-PVS and related power plants worked, in order to supply heat to part of the above three districts of the city of Donetsk.
From March to August 2020, the plant suspended work due to a shortage of raw materials. As of November 2020, the YuMZ complex, separated from the main part of the plant, continues to produce steel, specializing in the production of continuously cast square billets. The workforce consists of 858 people.
At the DMZ, there are energy workshops that provide transit and supply to factory consumers and sub-consumers of drinking and industrial water, electricity, natural gas, steam and hot water.