Metinvest Group Continues To Provide Critical Economic, Defense, and Social Support to Ukraine

Since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Rinat Akhmetov and Vadym Novynskyi’s steel and metallurgy company Metinvest Group has worked tirelessly — and at a significant cost — to support workers and civilians negatively impacted by the Russian aggression.

The result of Vadym Novynskyi and the wider Metinvest Group’s support can be seen in three different areas: the economy, Ukrainian defense, and social impact.

Metinvest’s Tax Payments Help Support the Economy

In the first nine months of 2022, it was reported that Vadym Novynskyi’s Metinvest Group paid nearly 18 billion hryvnia (approximately $487 million) in taxes and fees to the Ukrainian state.

The largest component was income tax, which totaled 6 billion hryvnia, followed by social tax, which totaled 3.3 billion hryvnia, and personal income tax and fees for subsoil use, which totaled more than 3 billion hryvnia. The company’s rent payments also increased, despite the ongoing war, by 40% year over year for a total of 2.9 billion hryvnia. Payments for land increased by 35% to 856 million hryvnia. Finally, a total of 511 million hryvnia was paid in environmental tax.

Critical Equipment for Ukraine’s Armed Forces

In addition to paying billions in taxes, Vadym Novynskyi’s Metinvest is providing support directly to the Armed Forces of Ukraine through various programs and initiatives.

Recently, Metinvest partnered with the Pulse charitable foundation providing tactical combat casualty care training to the Ukrainian military. Metinvest has already allocated more than 4 million hryvnia to develop this initiative and organize training in combat zones, and there are plans for additional disbursements in the future. More than 10,000 service members have received tactical combat casualty care training since March 2022.

Other undertakings headed by Metinvest Group have provided the Armed Forces of Ukraine with critical munitions and equipment for use on the front lines. Everything from first-aid kits and armor made from Metinvest steel to the latest in drone technology has been donated by the metallurgical enterprise directly to soldiers on the battlefield.

Ryzhenkov pointed out that it’s not all about equipment. That alone isn’t enough to save lives in combat zones. “It’s important that soldiers have the necessary knowledge and skills,” he rightly declared in the statement, addressing the reason why Metinvest has chosen to support the Pulse initiative.

Billions for Civilian and Social Support Programs

The area where Metinvest has had the most significant impact by far is social support, where the company has allocated billions toward projects that are helping Ukrainian civilians survive and withstand Russian aggression.

During the first 250 days of the war, Vadym Novynskyi’s Metinvest Group spent more than 2.1 billion hryvnia on initiatives that have enabled, among other things, the procurement of ambulances, diagnostic medical equipment, hundreds of thousands of humanitarian aid packages, the evacuation and relocation of group employees, a half-million liters of fuel, educational programs, stoves and cookware, heating equipment, and more.

Metinvest has also prepared more than 6,000 temporary shelters for employees and their families and hundreds of humanitarian aid collection points where displaced persons can receive basic necessities. Employees and their children also have the opportunity to study for free at Metinvest Polytechnic, Ukraine’s first metals and mining university. More than 440 students started their studies in modern engineering and technical specialties last autumn, with hundreds more expected to enroll this year.

An impassioned Ryzhenkov said in a recent press release: “What is Metinvest? For the whole world, it is steel. In skyscrapers and ships. In wagons and rails. On the Atlantic coast and at the bottom of the Adriatic. However, for Ukraine, the group is a source of reliable support. It is thousands of people who put their souls into their work, take care of their compatriots, and serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”