50
‘I allow myself to smile
again’
U k r a i n i a n re c y c l e r E v g e n i a G o rd e e v a :
In early March 2022, a week after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Recycling International
talked on the phone with Evgenia Gordeeva, general manager, foreign trade, at alumini-
um recycler Mekhanicheskiy Zavod (MZ) in Kherson, among the first cities taken by the
Russians. From a hotel bomb shelter she shared her experiences of those early days of
the war as being ‘worse than the worst war movies’. Fourteen months on RI visits
Gordeeva in the UK, the safe haven where she now works for EMR.
A U T H O R / P H O T O S Martijn Reintjes
50-51-52-53_evgeniagordeeva.indd 50 04-05-2023 09:43
