The project “Azovstal – A Symbol of Perseverance”, under which the UNITED24 fundraising platform of the President of Ukraine and Metinvest Group manufactured two batches of bracelets from the last pre-war batch of Azovstal steel, is coming to an end. All bracelets have sold out. A total of 100,000 steel symbols of perseverance were purchased by Ukrainian patriots from 44 countries. As planned, 100% of the profits from the sale of the last batch of bracelets will go towards the creation of the first-ever Fleet of Naval Drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
After the beginning of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation, the Azovstal plant became a fortress that served as the last line of defence for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Mariupol. The name of the plant has become a symbol to every Ukrainian of the courage and perseverance of the Ukrainian defenders who proved to be stronger than steel. That is why the first batch of 30,000 bracelets manufactured in October was sold out in three days: a total of UAH 40,338,907 was donated to strengthen the Army of Drones. The second batch of bracelets was made in November from the large steel letters “BELIEVE IN THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE”, which stood at the foot of the largest flag of Ukraine in Kyiv for a month. Because of the intense demand among people who wanted to share our faith in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 70,000 bracelets sold out in less than a month. This raised more than UAH 94 million hryvnias, which will go towards the world's first Fleet of Naval Drones. This amount will be enough to purchase nine unmanned boats.
Metinvest's participation in the project “Azovstal – A Symbol of Perseverance” was a part of Rinat Akhmetov's Steel Front military initiative. Since the beginning of the war, Metinvest Group has transferred over UAH 1.4 billion in aid to the Ukrainian defence forces. Overall, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence and the Territorial Defence Forces have received more than 150,000 body armour vests, tens of thousands of helmets, hundreds of thermal imagers, drones, vehicles, mobile dugouts, armoured steel plates and other military equipment over seven months.
“Azovstal is one of the new symbols for every Ukrainian. Symbols, which many years hence will become the embodiment of our victory over the aggressor in this war. That's why I was not at all surprised that there were so many people in Ukraine and beyond its borders who wanted to get their share of steel from the legendary plant. With this project we were able not only to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and raise funds for the army and drone fleet, but also once again celebrate the heroism of every soldier defending Ukraine. I hope that the next batch of bracelets will be made of the first batch of steel manufactured at the rebuilt Azovstal. And it will become a symbol of a reborn, Ukrainian Mariupol,” said Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the CEO of Metinvest Group.
The project “Azovstal – A Symbol of Perseverance” was made possible through the cooperation of Metinvest Group and UNITED24. The design of bracelets was developed by SOVA jewellery house, Nova Poshta carried out delivery, and Rozetka undertook the sale of bracelets.
