Ukraine’s richest man vows to do this in Mariupol

For Ukrainian financier Rinat Akhmetov, Mariupol is at his heart, where he owns two massive steel mills that he vows to once again bring back to global competition.

Rinat Akhmetov has seen her business empire fall apart after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine. Currently, his company Metinvest, Ukraine’s largest steel producer, has announced that it is unable to fulfill its supply contracts and while his SCM Industrial and Financial Group is settling its obligations debt, his private electricity producer DTEK has “optimized the payment of debts” in an agreement with creditors.

“Mariupol is a global tragedy and a global example of heroism. To me, Mariupol was, is and will always be a Ukrainian city,” Akhmetov told Reuters when asked about the situation. Mariupol figure.

“I believe that our brave soldiers will defend the city, although I understand how difficult and hard it is for them,” Akhmetov said, adding that he had been in daily contact with activists. manager of Metinvest, who operate the Azovstal and Illich Iron and Steel Works plants in Mariupol.

Metinvest insists that the plant was never operated under Russian occupation and that the siege of Mariupol disabled more than a third of Ukraine’s metallurgical production capacity.

Akhmetov praised President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “passion and professionalism” during the war. “We will rebuild the whole of Ukraine,” Akhmetov said, adding that he returned to Ukraine on February 23 and has stayed until now.

Marshall Plan for Ukraine

Akhmetov did not say exactly where he was, but he was in Mariupol on February 16, the day some Western intelligence agencies predicted Russia would attack Ukraine. “I talked to the people on the street, I met the workers …”, he said.

“My ambition is to return to Mariupol of Ukraine and implement our (new production) plans so that the steel produced by Mariupol can be competitive in the global market as before.”

According to Forbes magazine, Akhmetov’s net worth in 2013 reached 15.4 billion USD. It currently stands at $3.9 billion.

Akhmetov said: “For us, war has been going on since 2014. We have lost all our possessions in Crimea and the temporarily occupied territory of the Donbass. I believe that, as As the country’s largest private enterprise, SCM will play an important role in the reconstruction of post-war Ukraine,” he said, quoting officials as saying war damage had reached $1 trillion. USD.

“We will certainly need an unprecedented international reconstruction program, a “Marshall Plan for Ukraine”,” he said. aid project for the reconstruction of Western Europe after World War II).

“I am confident that we will all rebuild a free, European, democratic and successful Ukraine after our victory in this war,” said the tycoon Akhmetov.