Russia says it will not restore Azovstal plant in occupied Mariupol, Ukraine

This was announced by Yulia Maksimova, director of the federal autonomous institution Roskapstroy, at a press conference on January 24, according to Russian media.

"No one is going to restore Azovstal, because it is impossible and unprofitable on the scale of the Soviet enterprise as it was before... Such enterprises were appropriate and profitable (in the USSR - ed.), they worked and were busy. Now I think that the region's economy will be revised," she said.

"There are also enterprises within Russia that are not quite coping now," Maksimova added.

According to her, two city-forming enterprises in Mariupol - Azovstal and Ilyich Iron and Steel Works - have been shut down and will never function as they used to.

Maksimova says that Russia understands that people need not only to restore their homes, but also to find work. However, Russian authorities intend to focus on agricultural development, she emphasized.

• In November 2022, Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, told Espreso TV that Russian forces were cutting Azovstal for scrap metal.