Ekaterina with 3 children was able to leave Mariupol/Channel 24 collage Ekaterina is the mother of three daughters, two of whom were born a month before the war in the Mariupolsky maternity hospital. There they found the war. And on March 9, the maternity hospital was destroyed by a Russian missile. The woman was forced to flee with her children, but her husband Dmitry, a soldier of the Mariupol Defenders Regiment, remained.
Both in the occupied territory and on the difficult road to the territory controlled by Ukraine, I had the experience of communicating with a large number of residents of Mariupol. Each of them has its own terrible, and sometimes tragic story. However, recently, already as a volunteer in one of the hostels in Zaporozhye, where my family received asylum, I met two angels. They started their lives in the most terrible place on the planet Earth.
It is difficult to imagine why their mother Ekaterina passed, who, despite the danger and extremely difficult conditions, managed to save the life and health of her daughters and escaped from the occupational clutches to free Ukraine. Unfortunately, this dramatic story is still far from a happy ending, because the father of these two babies is a military man who heroically defended Mariupol. Dmitry is a fighter of the regiment of defenders of Mariupol. The last time he contacted Ekaterina was in March. His further fate is unknown.
Ekaterina with her daughters Alice and Alina/Photo courtesy of the editors
Naturally, Ekaterina sincerely believes that Dmitry is alive, and dreams that the family will soon be reunited. She went through a terrible and very difficult path in order to save the babies and her eldest daughter, 8-year-old Sonya. According to her, several times they were saved by miracles. One more thing is needed. We believe that one day Dmitry's strong arms will warmly hug their girls.
Now the issue of saving the lives of the soldiers of the Mariupol garrison is the most urgent. The attention of the entire civilized world has been drawn to him, and now a special operation is underway to save the lives of our heroes and their further exchange for Russian prisoners.
Now Catherine with her children is away from the front line. She moved to her husband's relatives in Vinnitsa. The world needs to hear the family's story. You need to understand that Mariupol hides thousands of such horrors.
Interview with Ekaterina about the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol and leaving the city
I called Ekaterina in Vinnitsa and offered to tell in detail about his situation.
“Good afternoon, Sergey,” Catherine took the floor. “From you, from Zaporozhye, we transited through the Dnieper to Vinnitsa, where we live with my husband's relatives. This is now our new home.”
How old were Alice and Alina when the large-scale invasion of Russia began ?
The girls were born on January 23, one month and one day before the start of the war. They were born prematurely and were in an incubator, special boxes for premature babies.
So we met the war in the maternity hospital, and there was no question of discharge. The girls weren't ready for it yet. During my stay at the maternity hospital, I still managed to get sick with coronavirus.
I felt an explosion, ran to the children, fell and broke my arm: Ekaterina about the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol
It is hard to imagine how you felt at that time – Alice and Alina were in the couveuse, the eldest daughter was not under your control, and the man found himself in the very epicenter of hostilities.
Honestly, it was just terrible. It was very scary for both the children and the man. The situation in the city was also terrible. My husband came to my hospital, reassured me, told me not to worry that everything would be fine and everything would be fine soon. But time passed, and nothing improved. The explosions were even closer.
10th, 11th, 12th day of the war passed. Dmitry conveyed through the guys that he was alive and well and everything was in order with him. There was at least some stability in communication. However, everything changed dramatically on March 9, when a plane flew in and bombed our maternity hospital. All this was very unexpected. The day before, everyone congratulated the girls on International Women's Day. Everyone understood how difficult and scary it is for girls in the hospital in such languages. They even got flowers from somewhere and gave them to mothers.
The feeling of the holiday was preserved the next day, everyone was in a great mood, nothing suggested the horror that had happened. The whole picture changed in one moment at 14:45. It wasn't even immediately clear what was going on.
Was it one massive explosion?
It's hard to even say. I got the impression that the explosions were from two sides of the room. I felt an explosion front and back. First one wall collapsed, then another, and what was behind. I was in some strange state of shock that is hard to describe.
The maternity hospital in Mariupol destroyed by the Russians/Screenshot
At the time of the explosions, were you next to Alice and Alina?
Yes, we were in the same room. There were about three meters between us. I was sitting on the couch, and the girls were lying in the arena. They need to be fed every three hours. There were 15 minutes left before the next feeding.
When the explosions were heard, I immediately thought about the children and ran to them, but nothing was visible, there were some debris and glass everywhere, in the end I slipped and fell. At that moment, I broke my arm, but I didn’t understand it right away, it hurt and hurt, it wasn’t before.
When I ran up to my girls, I saw that the wall had not fallen on them. It was a miracle, because the other walls were filled up, the doors flew out, and the wall of the daughters, although cracked, remained standing.
The children slept as if nothing had happened. They didn't react to anything. I was afraid that something had happened to them, I began to pinch their cheeks, they still did not react, I began to pick them up. Panic reigned around at that moment, screams, someone called for help. These minutes are remembered badly, everything is in a fog. All mothers with children were quickly taken to the basement, where we stayed for 10-20 minutes. After that, some cars came for us: the police or rescuers.
It was difficult for me to pick up both daughters, especially one the hand was injured. Next to a woman with a man. They also had twins – boys. They were even younger than Alina and Alice. I asked the man for help. His name was Sergey. He took one of my girls in his arms, and his woman had a big blanket in which she wrapped both her sons at once.
We ran out of the basement, trees were felled on the street, cars were on fire, on the ground near me lay someone's feet in shoes that looked like purple galoshes. There was no body, the legs were lying. For some reason, I especially remember this moment.
When we were put into the car, there was a wounded woman lying there. I wanted to sit next to me, but they didn't let me. She was covered up to her waist with a blanket, when we were driving, this cover fell and I saw that she had no legs. Where the thigh is just a piece of meat. It was horror. This girl was pregnant. I later learned that neither she nor the child survived.
A wounded pregnant woman in Mariupol/Photo by Evgeny Maloletka
We were taken to the children's intensive care unit. There was blood on the blanket one of my daughters was wrapped in. They checked the child and saw that he was intact, they began to find out where the blood came from, and it turned out that my arm was injured. I didn’t feel anything and had very little understanding of what was going on around me. At some point, a newly born baby was brought into the room. I remember then I thought that this is a good sign – if a child is born, everything will be fine, this is a sign of life. >What happened next?
During the night, my hand was in a lot of pain. The next day I asked the doctor to check it out, and it turned out that I had a fracture. They put plaster. On March 11, we were told that there were many victims, but there were not enough places for everyone. We were taken to another place – the Ilyichevsk district. Not far from the Neptune pool, we were accommodated in the House of Prayer. There was a family with four children and two more mothers were brought with us. We lived in this place until March 27, when the war again came too close. Explosions were already heard, planes were constantly flying over us, bombing the city, the battles were close. It was very dangerous to stay, and we all walked together.
The day before, I asked to have my cast removed because I thought it would interfere with my journey. Then I regretted it, it was very painful. But there was no choice, for the sake of the children, you need to endure and go to a safer place. We came to the seventeenth microdistrict, from where we went to my native Urzuf, where my father, grandmother and eldest daughter were waiting for me.
True, leaving there was not so easy. They agreed to take me and the children without a queue, but the cars only ran to Mangush, from where our relatives were supposed to pick us up. At that time, mobile communications disappeared and I didn’t even know what to do when we got to Mangush. It remained only to go to Urzuf on foot, with children and an untreated arm.
Children wanted to eat and cried, it attracted attention. Suddenly, I met a familiar girl. She helped with the rest and moving to Urzuf. A man was found who agreed to take us home.
What awaited you in Urzuf?
There were no hostilities in Urzuf, however, the city was under occupation. There are the so-called Dnrovtsy. I was glad to meet my relatives, but my acquaintances immediately warned me that militants would come to me and interrogate me. They already knew that my husband was a soldier of the Mariupol Defenders Regiment. The infidels took away his car. Despite the fact that the wheels were specially pierced in it and the battery was removed.
I understood that sooner or later the Drevets or Russians would certainly come to me. I felt that I needed to get out of there as soon as possible. But for a long time I could not find a car in Zaporozhye. Everyone said that I should first go to Berdyansk, but in my condition, with three children, it was very difficult to move with transfers.
In Berdyansk, there were long queues to leave, you need to live somewhere, besides, the prices for transporting people to Zaporozhye were very high. At that time there were no regular evacuation convoys with buses, and people were taken out by private carriers for space money.
God helped us more than once, and I believed that at that moment everything would be fine. I patiently tried to find a carrier from Urzuf to Zaporozhye and my faith was rewarded. A car was found and we finally broke through to Zaporozhye, which is the only reference point for all people trying to evacuate from that region.
A warm welcome awaited us in Zaporozhye. We were met by volunteers and settled in a hostel for migrants. The next day, they organized a transfer to the Dnieper, where relatives met us and took us to Vinnitsa.
Ekaterina (on the right), her three daughters and volunteers in Zaporozhye/Photo courtesy of the editors
Love, kiss, hug, bond: the words of a man in the last conversation
Ekaterina, what did you do before the war and how did you meet your husband?
I worked as an ordinary seller in a tobacco shop. Dmitry has served in the regiment since 2016. We met by chance. One day he passed by my kiosk and he wanted to drink coffee. I made him coffee, started talking, got to know each other, started talking, keeping in touch. Then the love has already begun (At this moment, Ekaterina chuckled for the first time in the interview). Here is such a story.
When was the last time Dmitry got in touch?
The last time we corresponded with him was March 2, before the destruction of the hospital. Dmitry asked if we had electricity and water, I said no. He wrote… (Tears interfere with Catherine, but she courageously continues the story) “I love you, kiss you, hug you, goodbye.” And all this was our last communication.
Further, when other guys from the regiment came to the maternity hospital, I asked them if they knew anything about Dmitry. They replied that everything was fine with him, that he was alive. Even when we were in the children's intensive care unit after the destruction of the maternity hospital, I told other military men to find the man and tell him that we were alive. I don't know if they passed it on to him or not (Ekaterina is again “crushed” by tears) .
When I was in Urzuf, I found out that communication from Kyivstar was resumed in a nearby village. I went there right away. Of course, there was no communication with him, but I received a message dated March 17th. Dmitry asked how we were doing. He probably knew that we were alive, but at that time I had no connection, and when I answered, he no longer had a connection.
When we left for Zaporozhye and I got the Internet, I saw that the last time a man logged into Telegram was on March 26. Further, I have absolutely no information about him.
Dmitry did not contact other relatives, with his parents after that either?
< p>No, I haven't contacted anyone. I asked other girls who had men at Azovstal to learn something about Dmitry. The guys said that he was alive and well. Only in this way, after a few people, it was possible to find out that he was at least alive. But why he doesn't get in touch, I don't know. The rest of the men at least occasionally found the opportunity to communicate with their women. I don’t know, maybe he lost his phone, maybe the phone broke, maybe something else, maybe he was injured. Very difficult…
I know that when the maternity hospital was bombed, he tried to look for us. He called relatives, asked them to look for me with the girls, contacted our godfather, who lived in Urzuf, looked for us in Mariupol. But then there was no connection with us.
In the hostel you said that only in Zaporizhzhya received documents from the maternity hospital…
Yes, when the maternity hospital was bombed, of course, I was not up to the documents. That is, I returned to the remains of the ward for the main things, but I did not find a bag with documents. Then everyone left in all directions.
After Easter, my sister called me. She is deaf and mute and we communicated by gestures via video link. She said that my documents were found and are in Zaporozhye. My sister gave me Victoria's phone number. Of course, I immediately called her, and then in Zaporozhye we met at the Cossack Palace (now there is a center for helping migrants). There was also a man who questioned me to find out for sure if my documents were valid.
It turned out that documents on ancestral transit through several settlements were taken to Zaporozhye. When I was in Urzuf, I asked them to be scanned and copies sent to me. Fortunately, this was enough to pass all the numerous checkpoints in the occupied territory and get to Zaporozhye. The children helped me, they constantly cried at checkpoints and we were not particularly detained anywhere, they let us through.
We managed that with three children they were let through without a queue at checkpoints. And so I know that people sometimes live in queues in cars for several days.
When the maternity hospital in Mariupol was bombed, the Russian side tried to convince its citizens that there seemed to be “no “maternity, but there was a “military base”, and indeed, “there was no plane”, and the ruins and victims are all “staged shots”. “How do you generally react to such things after everything that you have experienced?
I just have no words, of course, there were no military men there. There was an ordinary maternity hospital where they took birth, in which there were mothers with children in the wards.
When I arrived in Urzuf, many did not believe me. My acquaintances convinced me that there was a military base there, and they made a picture of the victims for the media. I was in shock, that is, it means that I broke my own arm, and everything that we experienced was not real.
Then I realized that it was useless to argue. Even I couldn't prove anything to these people to talk about. It seems to me that they are winding themselves up, their version is beneficial to them, because the truth destroys the myths about the Russian world. Such people try to hold on to their illusions to the last.
I was very angry because I did not understand how this could be? Why, what is all this for? How can you bomb a maternity hospital, a real maternity hospital with mothers and children, and at the same time say that this is a military base. First they say that they bombed a military base, then they say that no one bombed anything, that it's all decorations.
They not only violate all the international rules of war, but also demonstrate how they treat us. Why was it necessary to bomb the maternity, I can't understand what it gave them? And it is very unfortunate that some of our citizens in the occupied territories believe in the propaganda of the occupiers.
The Russians say that they came to protect us, in fact, they did not come to protect us, but clean up. So many civilians were killed in Mariupol just like that.
God is their judge. Nothing, it will all come back to them like a boomerang. Everything will have to be answered. It's just that if their children suffer for them, I, honestly, will feel very sorry for them. It is difficult to remember all this, however, I can’t even find words to convey how terrible it was.
I believe that Dmitry will return home – Ekaterina about a man who was at Azovstal
The worst is behind. Most importantly, you saved your life and the lives of your daughters. Now there is an operation to save the lives of our Azovstal fighters. We must believe that Dmitry is alive and he will definitely return.
Of course, I follow all the news regarding the evacuation from Azovstal. There are few specifics right now. Much is unclear. Someone says that there will be an exchange soon, someone thinks that the guys can be kept for a year or a year and a half, or maybe they won’t be left alive at all.
It is not known how the situation will develop, but we have already been lucky so many times, there have been so many miracles that I believe that another miracle will happen. When the girls were born prematurely, they were very small and weak. Especially Alice. She almost went to the other world. Then the maternity hospital was bombed, but we survived. Then, when we were already in the House of Prayer, a shell hit our house, we were lucky again. Then they managed to escape from Urzuf. By some miracle, documents for daughters were found. We have already experienced so much that we must believe that everything will be fine and Dmitry will return home safe and sound. His family is waiting for him… (Catherine starts crying again).
It's just unbearable. I really want him to call, to hear his voice. I'm already so tired of living in constant uncertainty. Every day, they transmit information about how they are bombed, someone fills up. Recently, a friend from Urzuf called me and said that her husband died at Azovstal. I feel sorry for all of them, but, like every woman, I pray and believe that my husband will survive.
I don’t know how to live on, I hold on for the sake of the children, I understand how much they need me. I understand that you need to move forward, you can’t lose heart, no matter what happens. Children feel everything, they feel thoughts and moods, they immediately begin to cry, I try to hold on and not think about the bad. But it's very hard, there hasn't been a day that I haven't thought about him and haven't cried.
I really hope they all get rescued. They held on to the last, did everything they could, gave all their strength. I don’t know how to help the man, the only thing I can do is just pray for him that he survives. I look at every photo, every video in the news, I hope to see Dmitry, although I understand that there are a lot of guys there and the chances that he will get into the frame are small.
Sorry that made you remember all this terrible way and thank you for having decided to talk.
And I thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell what happened. People must know the truth. It is very important. There were many cases when Russians dressed up as soldiers of the Mariupol Defenders Regiment and committed various crimes and bad deeds. They deliberately tried to discredit our guys. I myself saw it with my own eyes. Many believed that these were really our fighters. This picture perfectly complemented Russian propaganda. It was very embarrassing and sad. Our guys gave their lives for Ukraine, for our citizens, and who believed the Russians. Anyone could wear a uniform. The guys going to the regiment are real patriots of their country and their main task is to protect its population.
I tried to explain to people that they were not Azov people, but it was very difficult. The Russians did everything to make the regiment hated in Mariupol. Of course, these are people, different cases happen in every community, but if something once happened, then the management quickly corrected the situation. The regiment has very strict rules. Even if you had a little drink somewhere, there were very heavy fines.
I know how they organize everything. The honor and reputation of the regiment is very important. For 8 years everything was fine, no one offended anyone, and the Russians came here – and the regiment, instead of defending their land and their people, suddenly began to terrorize the civilian population of their country. How can you believe in all this nonsense?
It was bitter to watch when many in Mariupol believed the enemy more than their soldiers. Some were even glad – “Hurrah, Russia has come”! What Russia!? They don't understand the situation. This Russia will destroy you morally and physically in poverty. They just don't see us as people. People should turn their heads on.
In the end, I would like to address the leadership of our country and the world community: please help our guys from Azovstal. Find ways to keep them alive. These are people who fought for Ukraine to the last.
At the end of the conversation, I sincerely wished Catherine that her faith in the best would continue to remain as powerful. We will stay in touch and, I hope, we will definitely communicate with her husband Dmitry, but for now we keep our fingers crossed for the heroes of the Azovstal defenders regiment and all the soldiers of the Mariupol garrison.
Author – Sergey KOSTENIUK
