Volodymyr Baranov was born in 1972 and spent his entire life in Zaporizhzhia.
He worked at enterprises in Zaporizhzhia specialising in the repair and maintenance of metallurgical equipment. He devoted a significant part of his professional career to Zaporizhzhia Construction and Installation Department, where he was involved in the repair and maintenance of equipment, including that of Zaporizhstal.
In 2023, Volodymyr joined the Metinvest Promservice team as a maintenance fitter. He worked at the blast furnace operations of both Zaporizhstal and Kamet Steel. In 2025, he joined Metallurgical Equipment Repair Shop No. 1 at Zaporizhstal. He continued to specialise in the repair of blast furnaces and the auxiliary equipment used in the shop.
Over the years, Volodymyr contributed to a number of major projects, including the construction of the pulverised coal injection (PCI) facility and Blast Furnaces No. 3 and No. 4. He knew that equipment like the back of his hand.
“Volodymyr was a very decent and calm person. He was an experienced professional who was committed to doing every job properly and conscientiously from the outset. It was a pleasure to work with him,” recalls his colleague Oleksandr ZAICHENKO, a maintenance fitter in Metallurgical Equipment Repair Shop No. 1.
Oleksandr had known Volodymyr for nearly 20 years. They first met while working at Zaporizhzhia Construction and Installation Department and later continued working together at Metinvest enterprises.
In the summer of 2026, when the blast furnace operations sustained damage as a result of hostile shelling, Volodymyr joined his colleagues in the effort to restore the affected equipment.
“It is difficult to explain. You know that equipment as if it were your own. You built it with your own hands and repaired it yourself. And then you see it damaged and no longer working. It is much like watching a home you love, where you have spent so much time and created so many memories, being destroyed,” says Oleksandr.
“Everything can be repaired,” Volodymyr would say at the time. But not a human life...
On 11 August 2026, eight employees of Zaporizhstal lost their lives as a result of a massive hostile attack on the plant. Among them was Volodymyr Baranov.
That night, he and his team were carrying out repair work on a blast furnace. Almost immediately after the air raid alert was sounded, explosions began, and Volodymyr was unable to reach a shelter in time.
“We knew each other well. Even when we were working in different teams, we still saw each other often and kept in touch. We also had a wonderful tradition together: every year on Epiphany, we would take a plunge into an ice hole. Sometimes we even managed to take a dip in the icy Dnipro before work, giving ourselves a boost of energy before heading off for our shift. It is hard to believe that it will never happen again, that Volodia is no longer with us,” Oleksandr recalls.
The plant supported Volodymyr’s family, as well as the families of all employees affected by the tragedy of 11 August.
The Zaporizhstal team shares the grief of Volodymyr’s family and loved ones, as well as the families and loved ones of all the employees who lost their lives.
Volodymyr spent years building, repairing and restoring metallurgical equipment. His professional knowledge, experience and hard work live on in the equipment he helped build with his own hands.
The memory of Volodymyr will live on in our hearts.
