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Mariupol, Ukraine PHOTO: Reuters
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The richest Ukrainian, Rinat Akhmetov, has promised to help rebuild the Russian-besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, BNR reported.
Akhmetov owns two large steel mills in the city, which he says will once again compete globally.
His company, Metinvest, Ukraine’s largest steelmaker, said it could not secure the supplies it ordered, and its financial and industrial company SCM Group was servicing its debt.
His private energy company, Di TEK, has optimized the repayment of debts in agreement with its creditors.
Ukraine’s largest steelmaker says it will never work under Russian occupation: “What is happening in Mariupol is a global tragedy and an example of heroism. For me, Mariupol is and will always be a Ukrainian city,” Akhmetov said. in a written reply to Reuters, he added that he was in daily contact with Metinvest managers from the Mariupol plants.
Yesterday, the company announced that it would not operate under Russian occupation and that due to the siege, production capacity in the metallurgical industry in Ukraine was reduced by more than a third.
The richest Ukrainian’s business empire has been shrinking since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence from Kyiv.
According to Forbes, Akhmetov’s fortune in 2013 was over $ 15 billion, while it is now just under $ 4 billion.
In a statement to Reuters, he claimed that the damage from the war in Ukraine was worth one trillion dollars.
“We will definitely need an unprecedented international recovery program, a Marshall Plan for Ukraine,” Akhmetov wrote, referring to the US project to rebuild Western Europe after World War II: “I believe we will all restore a free, a European, democratic and prosperous Ukraine after our victory in this war, “he concluded.
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