‘If nothing is done, it’s almost inevitable’: Ukraine’s Yuriy Ryzhenkov on why steelmaking is on the brink of collapse as Russian bombing intensifies

Yuriy Ryzhenkov is that rare individual—a chief executive who has led his firm of 33,700 people during a never-ending war.

He is the chief executive of the largest steelmaker in Ukraine, Metinvest.

More than 8,000 of his employees are fighting Russian forces.

Factories are under constant bombardment.

Hundreds of Metinvest colleagues have been killed.

Amid the flames and destruction, Ryzhenkov says that this period of the war is as tough as anything the company has seen since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.

“The blockade of the seaports is more severe now than it was in 2022,” Ryzhenkov, who became CEO in 2013, tells me.

“We’ve been hit numerous times.

Our facilities have been hit over the last four and a half years, and even though we were restoring them after every hit, you lose.

You get weaker with every such attack.

“In wartime you cannot afford to restore to the original state.

You do the best you can to continue operating and that best is never the ideal.

Unfortunately, it was one of the most severe campaigns for bombing in August and September this year.

We had to stop both of our steel mills.