Ukrainian Conglomerate Wants To Sue The Kremlin For Destroying Its Mariupol Steel Factory

A corner of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/Chad Nagle)

JAKARTA - Russia is ready to be sued by a Ukrainian conglomerate. Rinat Akhmetov was upset that his steel factory in the city of Mariupol was destroyed by a bomb by Russian troops.

The losses suffered reached 20 billion United States. Akhmetov's Azovstal steel mill was indeed damaged by Russian bombing and shelling.

This factory became the last stronghold in the southern port city. The Illich Steel and Iron Plant, also owned by Rinat Akhmetov, was also badly damaged during the Russian shelling of Mariupol.

"We will definitely sue Russia and demand proper compensation for all the losses and lost business," Akhmetov was quoted as saying by Channel News Asia, Thursday 26 May.

Akhmetov owns Ukraine's largest steel producer Metinvest. He would ask the kremlin to reimburse Azovstal and Illich for damages.

"The cost of reimbursement ... due to Russian aggression is from US$17 to US$20 billion. The final amount will be determined in the lawsuit against Russia," he said.

Billionaire Akhmetov has seen his pre-war business empire shattered by eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine after pro-Russian separatists took swathes of territory there.

Since the Russian invasion on February 24, Metinvest has announced it cannot award its supply contracts. While the Akhmetov financial and industrial SCM Group is servicing its debt obligations, its private power producer DTEK has restructured its debt portfolio, he said.

Akhmetov said he had remained in Ukraine since the war with Russia began, adding: "We believe in our country and believe in our victory."