Ukraine must plan beyond immediate survival and encourage young people to help drive its recovery, Metinvest Group CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov told the National Summit of the Ukrainian Students Union.
Marking its fifth edition, the summit was held in Oxford on 7–8 November under the theme “Beyond Recovery: Rebuilding Ukraine for the Next Generation” and gathered around 150 students representing Ukrainian communities at 60 UK universities. Following previous editions in Bristol and Cambridge, it brought Ukrainian students together with representatives of business, academia and government to discuss the country’s future. The main conference took place at Jesus College, University of Oxford, and Oxford Brookes University.
Yuriy Ryzhenkov joined Vladyslav Chechotkin, co-founder and co-owner of ROZETKA, and Oleksandr Hryban, former Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, for the panel “The Reconstruction Economy: Investment, Innovation and Growth”. The discussion was moderated by Andy Kilmister, Senior Lecturer in Economics at Oxford Brookes Business School. Participants explored how wartime business adaptation and the adoption of innovations could contribute to long-term economic development.
Drawing on the use of artificial intelligence and machine vision for quality control at Metinvest’s operations in Italy, Yuriy Ryzhenkov explained how workforce shortages are encouraging businesses to adopt new technologies. In Ukraine, the war is intensifying the workforce challenge: more than 8,000 Group employees have joined the Armed Forces. Finding technological solutions that help businesses operate with fewer people will therefore remain a priority.
“This adaptability, this flexibility forced upon us by the war, is also one of the greatest sources of creativity we have right now,” he said.
Asked how innovation could spread across the economy, Yuriy Ryzhenkov pointed to competition for skilled people, including with the military technology sector. The need to attract and retain talent was already encouraging businesses to adopt new technologies. He expressed hope that companies would sustain this momentum after the war and apply it to reconstruction.
Addressing the students directly, he said: “The young people in this room will go out into the real world, and we want them to come to Ukraine and drive this innovation.”
Metinvest already works with the Ukrainian Students Union through its Steel Force international internship programme, helping Ukrainian students abroad gain practical experience and maintain their connection with Ukrainian business.
Discussing the state’s role in strengthening business resilience and Ukraine’s long-term development, Yuriy Ryzhenkov emphasised the importance of strategic thinking even during the war.
“You cannot think only about how to survive the next day, because after the next day there will be another day, another year and another ten years,” he said.
He called for a conscious shift in priorities, ensuring that urgent challenges do not continually displace decisions essential to Ukraine’s long-term development.
