Even as Mariupol remains under bombardment from air, land and even the Black Sea, Metinvest is continuing to provide an unprecedented level of aid to its residents. The Group is waiting for the moment when it can begin restoring its facilities in Mariupol. Metinvest’s shareholder, Rinat Akhmetov, its employees and the government are united in this commitment.

– One of the worst hit areas, on the front line is of course Mariupol, which we have been hearing about throughout the days so far. It’s where Metinvest is based, it’s a steel and mining corporation and it’s where it has a large mill and complex. Joining us live is Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the CEO of Metinvest. It’s very good of you to talk to us. 
Just talk us through, we understand that one of your mills has been hit. What exactly has happened?

– Good afternoon to everyone, unfortunately it’s a sad time for Mariupol today. As you rightly said, we have two large steel mills located in the city and, as soon as shelling began, there were hits on the sides of the mills. Obviously, the main target was toward the civilians that were in the residential parts of the city.

But the mills also were hit, especially since we allowed as many residents as possible to use the bomb shelters available at the mills. At the same time, technologically we've done very thorough job to stop the mills, to idle them, to remove any possibilities of hazardous materials at the mills or any explosion of the gases happening in the mills.
So even though they were hit, we still think that once the war is over, we will be able to restore them and will be able to run them again.

And this is the position of our people, this is the position of our shareholder Rinat Akhmetov and the government.

– Before we talk about the people, because we understand that it's an absolute devastated city now Mariupol, absolute devastation. I just wonder if you could just help us to understand. The Ukrainian foreign minister was saying that shelling was taking place from Russian war ships on Mariupol. Is that your understanding about what has been happening on the ground?

– Well, the shelling was, happening there for the last three weeks at Mariupol, and there were all kinds of ammunitions used. We had the shelling from the planes, bombing. We had the artillery working there, but yes, recently we've seen some shots from the Russian ships, from the seaside. So, it's basically from all directions, all kinds of armour being used.

– From all directions, from all sides and at the centre, of course, the civilian population, you touched upon it there already. The mayor of Mariupol saying that there's no city left. Have you had, what kind of communications are you having? And what's your idea of what's happening to those people that are still there?

– Well, the communication is very sporadic. Unfortunately, when the first city wasn't circled, there were more than 400,000 people there in the city. Most of them, the last three to four weeks, more than three weeks now, they've been hiding in the bunk shelters or the basement of their houses. The food supplies that we stocked in advance, they were enough only for some time.

But, but as you understand, it tends to run out because of the siege of the city. So now they're coming close to no food. So the situation is a humanitarian catastrophe, by all means there.

– Sorry, I was just going to say you, you are describing a humanitarian catastrophe. We are hearing others describe it as a war crime. Should the city have surrendered?

– I don't think so. The position of the government, the position of the military and the position of the people is that the city was, is and will be Ukrainian.

This is also the position of our shareholder Rinat Akhmetov, which he voiced recently. We're calling again for Russians to prevent this or stop this humanitarian catastrophe by allowing the people out and hopefully, we'll get as many of them as possible out of the city.

– Absolutely crucial. Yes, absolutely. In terms of Metinvest itself, the company we've heard about the mills, we've heard about what you are doing on the ground in terms of the employees, in terms of actual concrete help to help them and the wider population as well. I wonder if you could just talk us through what your company is doing?

– Well from the beginning of the conflict, we decided and the shareholder decided to focus on the humanitarian aid, which we've done already before in 2014, 2015. So we had experience on how to do this. So we've established sorting centres in Zaporizhzhia. We established a humanitarian hub in Poland. And now this humanitarian help is coming into the country and coming to those people that need it. 

We’ve tried to get it for 10 days in the row. We’ve tried to get it into Mariupol. Unfortunately, the Russian forces did not allow us to do this. 

They haven't stopped fighting for even a brief period of time. At the same time, the people are getting out of Mariupol by their own cars and their friends’ cars.  And we're meeting them as, as soon as they get out of the city, we're providing them with shelter, we're providing them with the first necessities, like food, like medicine, sometimes even psychological help. And we are sending bus to get them out to, to the Ukrainian controlled territory in Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Kamenskoye, where we already set up more than 6,000 places for refugees.

– Yuriy, just talk us through when you are trying to get a corridor, when you're trying to get people out, what is your communication path with the Russian army?

– Well, we don't communicate directly as a company, it's being done by the military administration of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions and through the ministry of integration and the ministry of defense.

So, our job is to get the help ready to get the buses fuelled up and as soon as we have a confirmation to move. That's what we're doing.

– Yuriy Ryzhenkov CEO of Metinvest, thank you so much for speaking to us, we wish you and all your employees the best in these difficult circumstances there, but we do appreciate your time.

So, Metinvest - one of those companies with mills in Mariupol. We are hearing about devastation within Mariupol. The city saying that it will not surrender. We will of course continue to keep you up to date. Stay with us here. 

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