Akhemetov has had an interesting political history. Before 2014, he was the richest man in Ukraine and was closely tied to both the pro-Russian political parties and the Russian mob in Ukraine, based in Odesa. (The Russian mob controlled area in Brooklyn is called Little Odesa.) But, something happened when Yanukovich ordered his special police to fire on the Maiden protesters in February 2014. He switched sides. After Russian troops took Donetsk in 2014, they headed to Mariupol. Akhemetov’s holdings are principally steel mills and coal mining and the major mills were in Mariupol. They expected to be welcomed there.
There were about 1,000 Russians and Ukrainians who supported them headed to Mariupol. Almost 15,000 steelworkers and coal miners initially armed with picks, shovels and the like, were headed toward them. The mills had been closed by Akhemetov and the supervisors had urged the workers to fight. Along the way, trucks from the mills appeared and passed out hundreds of weapons. Then more trucks appeared ftom Odesa. The pro-Russian mayor of Odesa who also was the leader of the Russian mob, had also changed sides. (His change of heart had occurred a few days earlier when the Russians tried to assassinated him during a parade.) He sent his titushkas ( the soccer hooligans) and hundreds of weapons.
Suddenly, the thousand Russians were facing 15,000 mainly armed steelworkers, coal miners and titushkas. They turned around and headed back to Donetsk city. That is one of the reasons taking Mariupol was so high on the Russian’s list in the February invasion. They were humiliated by what happened in 2014.
I’ve never been there, but Masha says it used to have the most beautiful public buildings and parks in Ukraine. Mainly paid for by Akhemetov. Of course, all now have been destroyed by the Russians. It will take a lot more than $22 Million to rebuild it, but it’s a start.