Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure and owners of Azovstal plant have turned to Latvia’s government with a proposal to support Daugavpils Locomotive Repair Plant (DLRR), as LETA was informed by DLRR representatives.
At the beginning of May Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov turned to Latvia’s Minister of Transport Tālis Linkaits with a letter, in which he stated that «the long experience of DLRR, unique field of expertise and ability to provide a full range of services will be vital for the restoration of Ukraine’s railway infrastructure after the war».
The management of DLRR’s partner – Ukrainian Metinvest – has sent to the Latvian government an official letter, outlining the strategic importance of DLRR for the restoration of the destroyed railway infrastructure.
In his letter, Kubrakov also mentioned that Ukraine’s railway is coming under intentional attacks, and the purpose of those attacks is to destroy infrastructure.
The letter addressed to the Ministry of Transport mentions that Ukraine’s abilities to provide proper maintenance of the rolling stock and trains are limited since all the repair plants and other strategic infrastructure are at risk of artillery fire and other attacks.
In the letter the minister expresses hope for cooperation with countries supporting Ukraine and their companies, adding that DLRR is such a company in Latvia. It could provide repairs for rolling stock owned by Ukrainian Ukrzaliznytsia to reduce the damages caused by the war.
Last week LDRR partner Metinvest director general Aleksandr Gerasimchuk sent an official letter to Latvia’s government, stating in it that the company is aware of the financial difficulties experienced by DLRR.
Similar to Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure, Gerasimchuk stressed that the war has made railway repairs impossible in the country.
According to the company’s representative, DLRR is one of the key partners and Metinvest is highly interested in it continuing to work on active orders and train repair and modernisation.
Metinvest also owns Azovstal steel mill, which has suffered substantial damage from Russian military forces. Azovstal remains under attack from all kinds of arms, including aircraft bombardments.
As previously reported, around March 2022 Latvia’s State Employment Agency had received a notification from Daugavpils branch of DLRR and its subsidiaries LLC LokRem, LLC DL Metal and LLC Logkom regarding plans to collectively lay off 240 of their employees.
Read also: Day 82 of war in Ukraine: Part of Azovstal defenders evacuated, missiles hit Lviv Region, evidence of new mass grave
DLRR representatives say that the war in Ukraine has heavily impacted the repair plant’s operations. Metinvest’s debt before DLRR for services provided already reaches EUR 8 229 550. Ukrainian company has confirmed readiness to pay the debt but is unable to do this because Ukraine’s government has declared a ban on all cross-border transactions.