Largest Private Support: During the Year of Full-Scale War, Rinat Akhmetov Donated UAH 5 Billion to Help Ukraine and Ukrainians
Since the first day of russia’s full-scale invasion, Rinat Akhmetov’s businesses and initiatives have been supporting the country, both its military and civilians, so that Ukraine can survive and win, and people can save their lives and health. During the year of the war, the businesses of SCM Group, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation and Shakhtar Football Club donated UAH 5 billion (USD 150 million) to help the country and its people.
Assistance to the defenders of Ukraine is primarily implemented within the framework of the military project Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front. For SCM, this issue is especially important, as more than 13,000 employees of the company’s businesses have joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thanks to the initiative, military and defence units from all over the country receive individual military gear, vehicles, drones, special technical means (like thermal imagers, rangefinders, cameras, etc.), fortification structures, clothes and footwear, first aid kits and tourniquets, radios, fuel and other necessary items. In particular, Metinvest has developed and launched a serial production of modular shelters for soldiers on the front line, which can withstand even a strike by an artillery shell. More than 100 such products have already been delivered to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The metallurgical group also mastered the production of armoured steel. Currently, every tenth bulletproof vest in Ukraine is made from Metinvest’s steel – about 170,000 of them in total. In winter conditions, production of stoves for the front became another important cause. About 5,000 of them will be produced from the company’s steel.
In addition to the overall assistance worth UAH 5 billion, Rinat Akhmetov allocated another UAH 1 billion (USD 25 million) for the project the Heart of Azovstal, which is part of the Steel Front and has already been launched. It is aimed at helping servicemen from those Ukrainian military units that were in the garrison of the fully besieged Mariupol from February to May 2022. Within the framework of the project’s programs, support will be provided to both the defenders of the city and the families of prisoners, missing and dead military men.
The operation of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, in particular energy facilities and telecommunications, is another important area of our support for the country. Despite the constant shelling and missile attacks, DTEK’s professional and highly skilled personnel are making every effort to quickly resume electricity supply to the homes of Ukrainians. About 7 million families have had their power supply restored since 24 February. In turn, Ukrtelecom is doing everything necessary to provide Ukrainians with access to communication services (and even in the absence of power supply). Thus, Internet services are available in 87% of Ukrainian settlements and populated areas that are covered by the company’s network. Sixty percent of the company’s subscribers already have energy-independent Internet access, and in large cities, Ukrtelecom opened dozens of public free Wi-Fi zones.
Systematic humanitarian assistance from the Rinat Akhmetov’s businesses and projects is being provided to the Ukrainian civilians, primarily in the frontline zones and de-occupied regions. Citizens from socially vulnerable categories, internally displaced persons, including evacuated employees of companies and their families, receive food, basic necessities (clothes, household items, etc.), and medicines. In addition, in the cities of the company’s presence, care is taken about asylums and shelters, bomb shelters and protective covers, hospitals, sources of electricity and water for the population, etc. Support is also being provided to local administrations and municipal utility services – from supplies of fuel to personal protective equipment.
The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation has provided tens of thousands of blood containers, as well as hundreds of thousands of medicines, and about half a million of food packages to Ukrainian citizens. Overall, by the decision of Rinat Akhmetov, 800,000 food packages will be provided to Ukrainians. The Foundation is also the founder of the Museum of Civilian Voices, the largest archive of testimonies and accounts from Ukrainians about the events of the war with russia, which has collected more than 60,000 people’s stories.
