Copy of the Mural From Mariupol, Created Thanks to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, Will Be Presented in Milan
On 8 March, Metinvest will hold a charity event in Milan, Italy, where it will present the results of the humanitarian initiative Saving Lives for one year of the war. The main part of the event We Save Lives will be a charity auction, where some unique items of historical value related to modern Ukraine will be presented. In particular, a copy of Milana mural in Mariupol, created thanks to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation and destroyed by the russians in 2022.
Milana mural on a high-rise residential building in Mariupol was one of the city’s symbols. It appeared in 2018 thanks to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. The mural showed a portrait of Milana Abdurashitova, a six-year-old girl who lost her mother and her leg in the shelling of the city in 2015. Milana underwent several surgeries, and then psychologists from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation helped her to recover. The author of the mural is Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Korban.
“Milana impressed me with her strength, courage, and love of life she showed despite her tragic life story… I wanted to give a portion of warmth to residents of my homeland through my painting, to instil the hope in their souls that life goes on,” the artist said.
In October 2022, the invaders destroyed the mural under the pretext of “restoring the thermal envelope” [of the building].
A copy of the mural, which will be presented at the auction, was made on a sheet of steel from the legendary Azovstal Steel Works in Mariupol, which became a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance to the enemy. All the funds collected from the auction will go to support for Ukrainians through the project Saving Lives in 2023.
The project Saving Lives and the charity fund Do It Together were created by Metinvest Group in coordination with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation at the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. To date, the project has provided food and hygiene products to more than 400,000 Ukrainians, as well as launched prosthetics, physical and psychological rehabilitation programs for Ukrainians, war veterans and civilians.
