Vladislav, a resident of Mariupol and the head of a public organization of the council of heads of condominiums, buried seven people , cynically killed by the Russians. The man lived in the 22nd microdistrict in the city center.
Exclusively to the channel 24 website, Vladislav spoke about the terrible days in the surrounded city – targeted shelling of residential buildings, the destruction of a bakery, the murder of a civilian population. And also about the life of a makeshift hospital in the basement, where nurses were forced to operate without needles and threads.
How a full-scale war began
On February 24, the suburbs of Sartana, the Vostochny microdistrict and Svoboda Avenue were the first to suffer from the Russian invaders. According to the man, important infrastructure worked only until March 3.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, there was a big shortage of food and water in Mariupol. The city council bought flour, began to form night and day shifts of personnel who were supposed to work at a bakery on the left bank to help people.
At the beginning of spring, enemy shells were already flying directly into the territory of the bakery itself. On March 3, the last electrical line was interrupted. It was the last day the workers could make bread. After that, they began to deliver dough to people.
We have a public organization of autosportsmen of the city of Mariupol. They also joined. I myself am a master of sports. And on the last shift I got a call from a colleague. I told him that they were heroes, to which he replied that those who would take it all out would be heroes. Everything was already bombed, my colleague was able to take out the shift personnel from the bakery under shelling, Vladislav recalled.
Vladislav headed a public organization Council of Chairmen of OSMD of the city of Mariupol/Photo by Valentina Polishchuk, Channel 24
When the city was without electricity and without water, the city council of Mariupol was still trying to organize the delivery of water tanks. The man said that they managed to do it twice, directly, to the yard where he lived. However, the water was only technical.
Enemy shelling intensified. When the sound of the plane appeared, the people of Mariupol already understood that it was carrying two bombs. During the shots from grenade launchers, the inhabitants still tried to move, but when the plane was flying, they abandoned everything and ran as quickly as possible to the basement.
When our house was bombed, we first hid in the bathroom and in the room so that there were two walls. We made a bed there when our house was fired from mortars and tanks. But when an air bomb landed near the neighboring house, we already understood that it was very dangerous to be in the apartment. We went down to the basement and arranged everything there,” he noted.
Vladislav became a volunteer at the I am Mariupol center/Photo by Valentina Polishchuk, Channel 24
Vladislav said that some of his friends left at the beginning of the war. Then the locals understood that the defense from the Crimean isthmus had been broken through. However, it was believed that the defense of Mariupol, on the other hand, was well equipped.
We knew that our fighters from Azov and the Marine Corps were motivated and prepared. Therefore, we did not evacuate, and then there was no such possibility. When the orcs approached from the western side of our city, it was already impossible to escape. There were shelling and all roads were blocked. Our military also did not recommend going under fire. There were many stories when someone broke through, and someone died right on the spot, the man said.
Mariupol after shelling by Russian troops/Photo from the Telegram channel “Mariupol Now”
On March 16, Vladislav celebrated his birthday with his neighbors in the basement of the house. For a certain period of time – 3-4 days, the inhabitants could not get out of there at all, because Russian mines constantly flew in. The first shell of the tank arrived and destroyed the flight of stairs in the entrance of the house where the man lived. There was a big hole, but the span itself didn't fall. The second shell hit the apartment – it started to burn.
Our fighters entered our house and helped put out the fire. And the one who helped us more – died from a mine near our house. And they couldn't take him away, so we had to bury him behind our house. Also those who died during cooking due to landmines – we also had to bury near the house, he stressed.
Mariupol after the shelling of Russian troops/Photo from the Telegram channel “Mariupol now”
People had no water, they extinguished fire with cans of cucumbers and tomatoes from a burning apartment. When the Ukrainian military brought down the Russian tank, the residents managed to put out the fire. They made drinking water from snow that was still in early spring.
I had seven corpses from my yard on my hands. Almost all of them died when they went out to cook food. Also among them was one of our soldiers. The first woman died in the premises of the TsTP – this is a heating point in the yard where the arrival was. She hid there along with other people. Why exactly there – I do not understand, because there are very thin walls. And when the neighbors reported that a woman had died there and there were three wounded, we organized a makeshift hospital in the basement of a neighboring house,” he said.
There were three nurses in this “hospital”. They were not doctors, but they were the ones who operated on people. According to Vladislav, a difficult task arose – to run fifty meters to the central heating center and transfer the wounded on blankets. After all, it was not possible to operate under shelling and provide first aid.
Therefore, I gathered those who were more courageous, and we, under shelling, dragged these wounded first to the basement of house number 307. On the first night, we treated them there and bandaged them. They had a wound to the knee, calcaneal-tibial joint, and head. Of these three, all survived in our hands. Three days later, I found a hero who, under shelling, crossed the front line twice to take them to the hospital, the man recalled.
< em>Mariupol after the shelling of the Russian troops/Photo from the Telegram channel “Mariupol now”
In the hospital, the wounded were treated, but they were not accepted, because they were not heavy – they were brought back.
They stayed with us for about two days, we fed them. It should be noted that they kept up very well, because for some periods of time we did not have the opportunity to look out of the basement in order to somehow feed them. We tried to create at least some conditions for them that we could then. Then we managed to contact, find and transfer the wounded to their relatives,” he added.
In order to survive, the locals tried to take food from warehouses blown up by the occupiers. At first, people thought they were on fire as a result of the fighting. But every day there were more destroyed warehouses. the Russians fired at them purposefully. They managed to find the dough right on the ground and collected it. It was all dirty. Mariupol people cleaned it, and then baked bread. I also managed to find jars of cucumbers and some oatmeal in warehouses.
According to Vladislav, the Russians first shelled all the houses, without exception, with mortars, tanks, artillery and aerial bombs, despite the fact that at the time of the shelling there were no Ukrainian soldiers near or in the houses. And the civilians died after the enemy troops seized the territory and the defenders of Ukraine retreated to other lines.
Mariupol after the shelling of Russian troops/Photo from the Mariupol Telegram channel now”
Most of the people died when two enemy mines flew into our yard to destroy our transformer substation. People got shrapnel wounds, we tried to save one in our makeshift operating room. The nurse operated on him, tried to sew up a vein on his shoulder. It didn't work. We ran around all the houses in search of threads and special needles. We couldn't catch that vein. And when I was able to find the car and take her to the hospital, he was already dead. All other people died on the spot, – said the man.
Vladislav said that he knew that the territory behind his house was mined. He also saw how the mines were placed, so he did not dare to go for his own car, which was in the garage. As the first cars started to leave, two cars exploded. Shevchenko Boulevard was partially blocked, so people tried to break through the checkpoints of the invaders in the direction of the village of Volodarskoye from March 16.
Vladislav himself left on March 21 by car. From the arrival of an air bomb, the car was cut, but the fragments hit the rear, and the wheels and windows survived. And the wires that were cut were responsible for the audio system. The man went to the village of Yurievka, where his close friend was. Even before April 8, Vladislav traveled to Mariupol several times – he took out his relatives and the family of his friend, who died.
Mariupol after shelling by Russian troops/Photo from the Telegram channel “Mariupol Now”
The last time a man managed to break into Mariupol, when the occupiers were sleeping at checkpoints. According to him, every time it became more and more difficult to pass. In addition, he broke into Zaporozhye several times and returned with humanitarian aid.
My friends loaded a full car for me in Vinnitsa, in Zaporozhye I was loaded at the warehouse of the Mariupol City Council, volunteers helped. I understood what our residents and my neighbors needed and, if necessary, tried to find a cure. Collectively, I crossed enemy roadblocks over a hundred times. When I realized that the situation with the hostilities was escalating, and the behavior of the invaders at the checkpoints and their composition was changing, I decided that it might be the last time for me to bring such humanitarian aid further,” he said.
The Russians demanded a military ID and a so-called “document” about the passed “filtration”. On April 9, Vladislav left for Zaporozhye and never returned to Mariupol.
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