Russia destroys Avdiivka Coke Plant, it is impossible to restore it – Metinvest group

It will be impossible to rebuild the Avdiivka Coke Plant after the end of the war due to the destruction caused by Russian shelling.

Source: Yurii Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest group of companies, in an interview with Forbes [Metinvest is an international group of steel and mining companies that owns operations in Ukraine, Italy, Bulgaria, the UK and the US].

Details: "The plant is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It has been attacked by Russia several times. They hit it with everything they had. I think it will be impossible to restore the plant," Ryzhenkov said.

He added that it is unlikely that the plant will need to be rebuilt as it was before the full-scale invasion.

Ryzhenkov clarified that the largest consumers of Avdiivka Coke Plant's coke were Azovstal and Illich Steel and Iron Works of Mariupol, and that their restoration was out of the question in the foreseeable future "until we return to Mariupol".

The Metinvest CEO added that the company plans to restore the Azovstal steel plant, but it will be a completely different plant.

Ryzhenkov, commenting on the restoration of Azovstal, also said that after the end of the war, the steel industry will remain part of Mariupol, but will no longer be its backbone. According to him, Mariupol could become a resort city.

"Tourism can be the main sector of the city's economy. There is also potential in machine building, shipbuilding and science," he added. But he stressed that this will depend on the conditions on which the war ends.

Background: Avdiivka Coke Plant, owned by Metinvest Group, was mothballed in May 2022 after hostile shelling.

On 8 November 2023, it became known that the last employees had been evacuated from the plant. At the same time, 17 other townspeople remained in the only surviving shelter of the enterprise and refused to be evacuated.

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