Restoring Order

"Someone has to bring order back to the streets."
"The city is sick of crime and chaos. People can finally see that they've got someone to rely on."
Alexander Zhigula, steelworker, Mariupol, Ukraine

Pro-Russian thugs

"We were duped. Akhmetov used to keep his eyes closed [to what was happening], but now he decided to make a deal with Kyiv authorities."
Serhiy Atroshchenko, pro-Russian separatist, Mariupol

"This is when power goes from Kyiv to the regions. This is when authorities are not appointed but elected. And this is when local authorities take responsibility for people's real future."
Billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, Mariupol

Rinat Akhmetov, the richest man in Ukraine, in a video statement explained that his loyalties are light on the Kyiv government and heavy on his native Donbass region, from Luhansk to Donetsk. The way to keep Ukraine together, he insisted, was to put into effect major constitutional reforms if unity is to be preserved, giving greater institutional authority to the regions, while remaining part of Ukraine.

Kyiv's new leadership has asked Ukraine's oligarchs to assist them in maintaining order; and to aid in that task they have given them the title to do so; governorships of eastern provinces to counter loyalty to Russia through the authority vested in them, among restive secessionists.  A metals, banking and media tycoon is now governor of his native Dnipropetrovsk, while industrialist Serhiy Taruta is governor of the Donetsk region.

During the turbulence that has overtaken the Donetsk region for over a month, where Rinat Akhmetov's Metinvest holding group is located in Mariupol, the second-largest city in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, steel plant directors, police and community leaders have taken their initiative under Mr. Akhmetov's direction to help improve security.

Through their concerted action, Metinvest workers have cleared out debris-and-tire-laden barricades and freed the pro-Russian-occupied-buildings. "[Residents are] tired of war and chaos. Burglaries and marauding have to stop", Viktor Gusak, one of the Metinvest employees cleaning the street, stated.

Burglaries and carjackings became common occurrences during the takeover of the pro-Russian insurgents. These were the righteous defenders of joining Russia who characterized those supporting continued union with Kyiv as thugs and gangsters.

Workers of the Ukrainian company Metinvest cleared away debris in government buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Friday. Local patrols by steelworkers have forced pro-Russia insurgents to retreat from the government buildings they had seized, giving residents hope that a wave of anarchy was over.

Mariupol, a city and port of half-a-million people, has two steel plants owned by Metinvest, Mr. Akhmetov's company. Heavy fighting took place in the city in the past weeks. Were the city to fall to the secessionists, Ukraine would be bereft of a large portion of its coastline on the Sea of Azov, linking to the Black Sea. Once commander of an occupied government building, German Mandrakov complained of his associates fleeing after he was "forced" out.

"Everyone ran away. Someone is trying to sow discord among us, someone has signed something, but we will continue our fight", he said referring to the agreement among steel plant directors, police and communities leaders to eject insurgents from the sized buildings. Trucks were busy carrying off the debris cleared away from the dismantled barricades.

One hundred groups of men consisting of two policemen and between six and eight steelworkers are out patrolling the streets in Mariupol.