Metinvest, together with the European Court of Human Rights, is assessing damages caused by the war and preparing a lawsuit against russia
The destruction of Azovstal alone will cost russia tens of billions of euros
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group, together with consultants from the European Court of Human Rights, is assessing the damage caused by the loss of its assets as a result of russia's invasion of Ukraine and preparing a lawsuit against the aggressor country.
This was announced by Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group, in an interview with Il Secolo Italian outlet.
"It will be billions... If we take Illich Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol alone, we can talk about tens of billions of euros in losses. In fact, we are currently assessing the damage with the European Court of Human Rights and preparing a lawsuit against russia," he said.
According to Mr. Ryzhenkov, in February 2022, the company discussed new sea routes from Mariupol with the Cosulich group, coil production with the Marcegaglia group, and new projects for the Mariupol plant with another Italian group. But then everything changed. putin made a fundamental mistake: he not only underestimated the Ukrainian army, but also failed to take into account how many friends Ukraine had.
Mr. Ryzhenkov also stressed the importance of thinking about what would happen after the restoration.
"We have to be prepared for what comes next. Your Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that Italian companies will be the main actors in the recovery, and we are ready to be their partners. I am confident that this will be the case," Mr. Ryzhenkov said.
He added that after a year of war, the group was focusing on stabilising the situation with its foreign assets, especially in Italy, where production has resumed.
"We are rebuilding the logistics and supply chain of our two plants in Italy and the UK, which are now operating normally. This year, we have found new sources of supply: for example, coal is now supplied by mines in the US, which support us on a regular basis. In Ukraine, the situation is much more complicated, especially in terms of logistics and electricity supply, but steel production is 60-65% and mining and processing plants are 25-40% full," the CEO stated, adding that Italy remains the Group's key market and that it is interested in increasing its presence in Italy.
Background. As a reminder, the Azovstal metallurgical giant was completely destroyed in Mariupol and Ilyich Iron and Steel Works (Ukraine's third and second largest steel plants) owned by Rynat Akhmetov and Vadym Novynskyi were almost 80% destroyed.
Most of Metinvest's steel plants in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts have cut production due to the hostilities. Sometimes they operated at a third of their capacity, and sometimes they were idle. Today, the plants are gradually resuming operations.
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