Until Russian airstrikes began targeting Dnipro
last week, the country’s fourth-largest city had
been mostly quiet — except for occasional
air raid sirens — in the two weeks after Russia
invaded the country. But executives at Interpipe
made a quick decision on Feb. 24 to shut down
all of its facilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the
invasion before dawn and by lunchtime, plant
operations were wound down, Bibik said. That
evening, he watched the last five workers get
shuttled off to the suburb where they live. All of
Interpipe’s workers are still being paid, Bibik and
Hraibi said.
Interpipe’s customers in the energy and rail
industries typically order their pipes, wheels and
other products months in advance, but Hraibi
said the disruptions will cause shortages and
lead some to look for alternatives. For some
wheel customers, such a Saudi Arabian railway
operator, Interpipe is the sole supplier, he said.
Two of the company’s chief steel industry rivals,
OMK and Evraz, are in Russia and he hopes
customers will avoid them.
“I don’t know if our business will survive,” he
said. “We do all that’s necessary to support the
people, to keep our employees, to be able to
restart in a month or two or three, whenever
things get back to — at least closer to — normal.
But in reality, nobody can predict what’s going
to happen.”