13.12.2023, Mariupol.
The first three workshops were launched at the Illich Steel and Iron Works in Mariupol, Roman Solonar, the plant’s first deputy director, told RIA Novosti on December 13.
During the fighting for the liberation of Mariupol, Ukrainian militants were hiding at the metallurgical plant for a long time. Solonar said that employees of the plant, after its demining, developed a plan to restore production, divided into four stages.
“We have already approached the first stage – these are five auxiliary shops. Of these, the slag processing shop is already working, also the consumer goods production department is working: it produces corrugated sheet, bent angle, also bent channel, which is used here, inside the plant, to restore the enterprise,” Solonar said.
He added that the shop, where ferrous scrap is prepared for smelting, has also started its work. According to the deputy director, today 3.7 thousand people work at the plant, and it is planned to expand the staff to 24 thousand employees.
Solonar reminded that earlier the plant used to process sinter – the main iron ore raw material for pig iron production. The plant produced pig iron and steel, hot-rolled and cold-rolled sheets, and coiled steel. The cold rolling shop suffered the most.
Solonar expressed gratitude to the Akhmat unit from the Chechen Republic, whose fighters entered the plant in May 2022 after the mop-up from the Ukrainian militants and stood guard over it. He emphasized that thanks to the members of the Akhmat units there was no looting and the equipment was preserved.
Vakha Geremeyev, an aide to Chechnya’s head, told the agency that the republic’s head Ramzan Kadyrov gave the serviceman the task of preserving the plant. They guarded both raw materials and equipment.
The Illich Steel and Iron Works in Mariupol, as well as the Azovstal plant, was turned into a fortification by the Ukrainian nationalists. The command of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian armed units was based here. The territory of the plant was completely cleared of mines in June 2023. The head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin, said that the phased launch of the plant was planned between 2023 and 2025.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
