In an interview with Reuters, Rinat Akhmetov declared his intention to return to a Ukrainian Mariupol and restore the city’s steel production to global competitiveness. SCM, his financial and industrial holding and Ukraine’s largest private employer, will play a central role in the country’s post-war reconstruction, with damage estimated – according to figures available at the time – at roughly one trillion dollars.
Mariupol and the Cost of War
Russian bombardment and the siege of Mariupol knocked out more than a third of Ukraine’s steelmaking capacity. Metinvest Group, the country’s largest steel producer and part of Rinat Akhmetov‘s SCM, lost its key assets in the city. Azovstal became the last stronghold of Mariupol’s defence in spring 2022, as the city’s defenders held out for 86 days before the garrison’s withdrawal on 20 May 2022.
Speaking to The Guardian, Akhmetov revealed he had been in constant contact with defence commander Denys Prokopenko throughout the siege, ringing him several times a day. Fifteen minutes before the garrison’s withdrawal, Prokopenko was asked what he needed – his reply was: “You needn’t worry about me, please take care of my men.” That request gave rise to the Heart of Azovstal project.
Since the project’s launch in January 2023, Heart of Azovstal has delivered more than 28,000 forms of assistance to over 8,000 Mariupol defenders and their families – rehabilitation, prosthetics, and flats for veterans with disabilities. Total funding has reached 2.2 billion hryvnias.
Heart of Azovstal became the first organisation in Ukraine to adapt the American post-traumatic growth methodology on a peer-to-peer basis, with plans to scale it nationally. The project also runs “Veteran and Community,” launched with Ukraine’s Ministry of Veterans Affairs, the Kyiv School of Economics and America’s Warrior Partnership, piloted in the Bucha and Kamianske communities to help local governments build veteran-centred policies.
Investment Rather Than Waiting
Rebuilding Mariupol is one strand of a broader reconstruction and investment strategy Akhmetov is pursuing. Metinvest is developing a new steel plant in Piombino, Italy – 2.7 million tonnes of annual capacity in partnership with Danieli – which will serve as a pilot site for technologies later deployed at Zaporizhstal and Kametstal in Ukraine. DTEK, SCM’s energy arm, has partnered with GE Vernova, British firm Octopus Energy and Halliburton, turning infrastructure recovery into an international investment platform.
Supporting the Army and Civilians
Military aid flows through the Steel Front initiative: more than 165,000 body armour vests made from Metinvest’s specialty steel, more than 9,600 drones, more than 163,000 fortification elements, and 1.7 million litres of fuel for Ukraine’s armed forces. Humanitarian assistance reaches civilians via the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, which has distributed more than 13 million food parcels; different forms of aid have reached more than 3.5 million people in total.
Outlook
According to Forbes, Rinat Akhmetov net worth has fallen from $15.4 billion in 2013 to $7.8 billion as of 2026. The scale of losses has not halted investment. In an interview with Forbes Ukraine, Akhmetov said he intends to remain in the country and will “spare no expense or effort” to rebuild after victory. Mariupol in that strategy is not a symbol but a concrete industrial objective: restoring the city as a steelmaking centre capable of competing on global markets.
