Ukraine’s richest man decries siege in Mariupol

Bloomberg

A period of tension between Rinat Akhmetov and Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared to reach a boiling point just weeks ago, after Ukraine’s leader slammed its billionaire oligarchs for fleeing ahead of an imminent Russian invasion.
Now, in the midst of war, Ukraine’s richest person says he’s back in the country and that the two are on the same team, setting aside the controversies that have surrounded him for decades. The authorities halted the operation at the Sukhodilska-Skhidna mine, owned by the country’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, with two miners still missing, two injured and 24 dead after a blast three days earlier, the Emergency Ministry said on its website.
Their common focus is Mariupol, the decimated city where Akhmetov’s System Capital Management has steel plants and where relentless attacks from Russian forces have left some 170,000 civilians trapped without access to food and running water.
“They are dying of thirst and cold — this is genocide,” Akhmetov said in a written response to questions. “The most horrible thing is that we can’t bring our aid to Mariupol and we can’t evacuate people because the Russian troops continue to shell and block our aid convoys.”
Akhmetov, 55, declined to reveal where he is in Ukraine, citing safety concerns. He said he won’t leave the country and is trying to help both financially and in the fight. His net worth of $6 billion is down more than 45% from before the war began, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
His two steel plants in the Mariupol area employ 40,000 people. While they have suspended operations, Akhmetov said they’re still paying salaries in full to those forced to flee their homes. SCM’s businesses, which provide electricity and energy throughout the country, and his foundation are assisting with evacuations and aiding the Ukrainian army.
It’s a sharp departure from his stance over much of the past decade, when he often avoided commenting or taking a stance on the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
When the time comes, “SCM Group will definitely lodge a claim against the Russian Federation, demanding to compensate all the damages caused by the Russian military aggression,” Akhmetov said. “I am confident that Ukraine will demand and receive the reparations in full.” For now, “all our efforts are focused on the only thing that matters — to help Ukraine win this war, help Ukrainians survive, and alleviate their pain and suffering,” he added.
Akhmetov remains a controversial figure in Ukraine due to his proximity to those in power.
His early business endeavours in the 1990s were concentrated in his native city of Donetsk, in the eastern part of the country. He then expanded in the region and bought up industrial assets during a wave of privatisations.
In 2004, he acquired a steel producer for $800 million with his friend and fellow billionaire Victor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of then-president Leonid Kuchma. The country resold it the following year for $4.8 billion after Kuchma’s attempts to transfer power to an ally sparked large-scale street protests known as the Orange Revolution and eventually failed, handing the presidency to a rival.