in the south of Ukraine, this factory resists the bombardments of the Russian army

“This is where the biggest rocket fell, caliber 203 millimeters. You see, we filled up the roof, but all around, we can still see the traces of shrapnel, we had to repair all that “, says Andriy Krassiuk, production manager at Centravis, a factory that manufactures metal tubes in Nikopol, in the Dnipro region of southern Ukraine. Since the start of the Russian invasion, production has fallen by 40% at this site, the world leader in the sector.

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“We are not operating at full speed because we are missing the equivalent of a team, 127 employees have gone to the front. And dozens of female employees have taken refuge abroad”, he adds. It must be said that in Nikopol, a city of nearly 100,000 inhabitants, Russian artillery shells fall every day, fired from the other occupied bank of the Dnipro river. On the other side, the nuclear power station of Zaporijjia, fallen into the hands of the Russian forces, faces us.

No less than three air alerts sounded during our visit to the factory. Employees no longer rush, for a long time, to the sandbag shelters placed between the machines. The war also forced the company – which exports to all continents – to review its supply and export chains.

No question, of course, of working with former Russian clients, explains Alexandre Joseph, the French CFO of Centravis: “Before the war, we sold in Russia, in particular the Russian nuclear power plant industry. Today, we cannot finish several projects because we no longer sell the tubes and we no longer have any relationship with Russia. since February 24.

“Since January, everything has been fine”

This winter, the factory had to run on half the electricity it normally needs. But since then, the indicators have returned to green, assures Alexandre Joseph: “Since January, everything has been fine. The 2022 results are very good, we have increased our operating profit by around 50%”. But the important thing, in the end, for Nadiya Boiko, wife, daughter and granddaughter of Centravis workers, is that the site continues to operate despite the omnipresent Russian threat: “The Russians bombard us every day, every night, but we understand that if the factory no longer exists then the city no longer exists and it would be more difficult to renovate it after the war than to keep it alive during” .

Nadiya is due to give birth in a few weeks: she intends to do so here, in her town of Nikopol deserted by half of its population.