Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, has pledged to rebuild the city of Mariupol, which has been under Russian bombardment for the past seven weeks. “Mariupol is a global tragedy and a global example of heroism. For me, Mariupol was and remains a Ukrainian city,” Akhmetov said, according to international media. “I believe our brave soldiers will defend the city, even though I understand how difficult and hard it is for them,” he added.
According to Forbes magazine, Akhmetov’s net worth in 2013 reached $15.4 billion. It’s currently $3.9 billion: “For us, the war broke out in 2014. We lost all our assets both in Crimea and in the temporarily occupied Donbass region. We lost our fortune, but that made us stronger and tougher.”
Akhmetov is the owner of the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol, which has become the base of the nationalist Azov Battalion and Ukrainian marines who are resisting hammer attacks by Russian troops.
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