“Metinvest is doing everything possible to bring Ukraine’s victory closer in all areas. As far as possible in wartime, our entities are continuing to make products for the defence and restoration of the country’s infrastructure, as well as preserve jobs and pay taxes. As part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front, we are providing our army with gear and steel products. The Saving Lives humanitarian initiative is taking care of food and other necessities for Ukrainians, as well as their physical and psychological health. We are looking after our employees and striving to retain the team to help the country in the future.”
Yuriy Ryzhenkov
CEO of Metinvest
Metinvest’s entities in Ukraine are operating under constant threat of enemy shelling and amid power shortages. Their work is also complicated by rising production costs, falling prices for certain types of products, and logistical constraints given the blockade of seaborne exports.
However, even in such difficult circumstances, the Group’s entities continue to operate, at different capacity utilisation levels subject to safety, logistics and economic factors. In particular, the situation at some operating assets of Metinvest is as follows.
- Kamet Steel and the joint venture Zaporizhstal continue to make products. In particular, Kamet Steel resumed output of pig iron, steel and rolled products in December after the shutdown caused by the Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in late November 2022.
- Construction of the mine block No. 11 is ongoing at Pokrovske Coal.
- Central GOK continues to produce pellets.
Overall, Metinvest’s enterprises are focusing on their ability to resume operations quickly or ramp up production once conditions are favourable.
As before, the Group’s priority is to take care of its employees, who keep production going. All entities have bomb shelters, which are stocked for long stays with water, food and medicine.
Metinvest continues to fight theft by russia, which has stolen more than 234,000 tonnes of the Group’s steel from Mariupol. In particular, 16 companies of Metinvest have filed lawsuits with the European Court of Human Rights against Russia for damages to the Group’s property and possessions in Mariupol and other territories of Ukraine since 24 February 2022.
As part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front defence initiative, Metinvest has established a systematic supply of vital items to the front line. In particular, the Group’s enterprises are making steel products: 69 special mobile dugouts have been supplied to the front line to reinforce trenches.
Metinvest is one of the largest suppliers of gear for the army among private Ukrainian businesses. Defenders will be protected by 25,000 helmets and 150,000 bulletproof vests, most of which are manufactured in Ukraine. For this purpose, the Group’s entities have launched their own production of steel for armour plates.
In addition, the sales company Metinvest-SMC is supplying hot-rolled plates for manufacturing rigid protection elements for vehicles: off-road, medical and public utility vehicles, as well as other equipment operating in areas being shelled. Recently, the Group has designed armoured shields to protect operators of large-calibre weapons from enemy fire.
Since the start of the war, Metinvest has produced more than 80,000 anti-tank hedgehogs, as well as spiked chains and mini-bastions.
To survive the difficult winter, the Group has taken care of heating equipment for the military and civilians in advance. On its own and in cooperation with partners, it has manufactured 2,500 field stoves and is donating coal and wood.
In addition, more than 7,000 Metinvest employees serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive warm winter uniforms. Around UAH12 million has been allocated for this purpose.
To strengthen the army’s defence capability, the Group is sourcing and delivering tactical equipment to Ukraine. It has already supplied soldiers with around 1,700 thermal imagers, 1,000 drones, 315 vehicles, including ambulances, and 1 million litres of fuel for vehicles.
More than 31,000 tourniquets and first-aid kits, other medical equipment, medicine and consumables from Metinvest are helping to save the lives of wounded soldiers.
Also, together with the PULSE charitable foundation, the Group is promoting the development of tactical medicine in Ukraine. Metinvest has allocated almost UAH5 million to organise training in the combat zone.
The Saving Lives project, created by Metinvest in coordination with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, has become one of the largest humanitarian initiatives in Ukraine and has already helped almost 350,000 Ukrainians. In 10 months of the war, more than 4,000 tonnes of food and other essential items have been delivered from abroad.
Vulnerable categories of people in the cities where the Group operates, on the front line and in de-occupied territories, as well as residents of shelters, are receiving assistance. The support covers the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kirovohrad, Kherson and Odesa regions.
In addition, as part of the Saving Lives project, hospitals have been provided with medicine, equipment and consumables worth more than EUR240,000.
Humanitarian supplies are also being delivered to hospitals in Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Kamianske, Pokrovsk and Avdiivka under a separate programme launched by Metinvest and the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. The total assistance to medical institutions under the two projects amounts to almost UAH170 million.
The Group is also supplying oxygen to Ukrainian hospitals and installing backup power supply systems in medical institutions. Since the beginning of the year, medical institutions have received 1,500 tonnes of oxygen to treat coronavirus patients and other oxygen-dependent patients.
Since autumn, Saving Lives and the Protez Hub project, created to support prosthetics in Ukraine, have been taking care of prosthetics for Ukrainians affected by the war. To date, 18 people are receiving assistance: Metinvest’s employees, military personnel and employees of public utilities. In addition, Saving Lives and Protez Hub will create a Ukrainian-language online platform for continuous education of professionals who help amputees return to a full life.
Also, Saving Lives is engaged in the psychological rehabilitation of Metinvest’s employees and their families. Together with the “Masha Foundation”, it has helped the first 140 women and their children to overcome the trauma of war and stabilise their emotional state.
Saving Lives is supported by almost 200 companies from all over the world, including Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain, the US, the UK, Switzerland, Greece and the UAE. The total assistance from partners amounts to more than EUR2.3 million.
Metinvest is helping Ukrainians to survive the winter. In particular, stoves for space heating and cooking are being delivered to Avdiivka’s shelters, and Group’s employees in Pokrovsk are receiving free solid fuel to heat their homes.
Metinvest is also equipping invincibility centres, where power, heat and internet are always available, in the cities where it operates. In Zaporizhzhia, one of them operates in the hub of the non-government organisation “Zaporizhzhia Joint Action Platform”.
The Group is continuing to take care of its employees. It is providing comprehensive support to all those who evacuated from Mariupol and Avdiivka to the government-controlled territories. Metinvest has organised more than 6,000 places of temporary shelter for them. Internally displaced persons are being provided with food, hygiene products and other basic necessities.
In addition, amid the war, the Group is helping Ukrainians to find jobs and undergo retraining. From February to December, 5,400 people were employed, including 1,600 from Avdiivka and Mariupol.
Metinvest’s employees and their children can receive free education at Metinvest Polytechnic, the first private steel and mining university in Ukraine. In the autumn, more than 440 students started their studies in modern engineering and technical disciplines.
The Group is also taking care of the mental health of its employees and their families. For this purpose, it has launched the service “Metinvest – Together!”, as part of which psychologists have already conducted more than 2,000 individual and group consultations. In addition, the Group is organising family holidays for children. Metinvest has also become a partner of the project “Physical Rehabilitation of Children Through Swimming”, launched in Zaporizhzhia by Olympic medallist Denys Sylantiev.