Russians strip, loot Mariupol’s flagship steel plant

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has handed control of the Illich Steel and Iron Works in Mariupol to associates of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov for looting, reports The Wall Street Journal.

“Kadyrov and his associates are removing and selling off modern metallurgical equipment, shipping scrap metal to Russia for use by its sanctions-crimped carmakers and hawking industrial gasses to Moscow’s space program,” the publication states.

Looting at the plant, situated near the Azov Sea in the Donetsk region, is only becoming more rampant. 

Trucks carrying rolled products frequently leave the factory bound for Russia. The occupiers have already dismantled and sent to Russia a production line worth $220 million that was installed shortly before the full-scale invasion began. In September 2022, a Moscow trading company exported steel products worth $380,000.

“Other Russian companies have picked up containers and coal left at the plant, according to those records,” the text reads. “In January 2023, a cargo of $50,000 of metals was exported from the plant to Uzbekistan, according to 52wmb.”

The steel plant was one of the largest enterprises in the Azov region and Donetsk, as well as one of the largest metallurgical plants in the former USSR and a key exporter for Ukraine.

The enterprise collaborated with more than 90 countries and employed over 14,000 workers, according to Metinvest, an international group of mining and metallurgical companies owned by Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov. 

The plant celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2022.

“Before the full-scale invasion, construction of a new air distribution unit complex was underway there, with a project cost exceeding $55 million. The plant also continued to supply oxygen to hospitals free of charge for the treatment of COVID-19 patients,” writes Hromadske.

The metallurgical industry is one of the key sectors for Ukraine’s economy. Before the full-scale invasion, the industry accounted for about 38 percent of the country’s economic output and contributed significant amounts of tax revenue to the state budget. 

Since Feb. 24, 2022, metallurgy has suffered the most among industries, according to the Kyiv School of Economics. However, it has continued to play a key role despite the challenges posed by the ongoing war.