Citizens of Mariupol have been completely surrounded since the beginning of the war. Under shelling and airstrikes, people began to leave the city en masse, leaving their homes. Among them was Lilia with small children and her family.
About the beginning of the war in Mariupol, the last days before the departure and Russian checkpoints. And also about non-childish rules and a one-way road for the project SVOI on Channel 24Lilia said. The woman, along with her 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, were leaving the besieged city in the first days of March 2022.
Lilia was born and lived in Mariupol for 34 years. There she met her lover and got married. They subsequently had two children. They built a house and dreamed of moving there in the summer of 2022. But the war ruined all plans.
“We divided the explosions into three categories”: about the beginning of the war in Mariupol
How do you remember February 24?
It so happened that on this day I was supposed to have a pleasant event. After all, my oldest child was 7 years old. But this day we met with explosions. Of course, I wanted to take care of the child on that day, but our experiences were different. 2014 also accompanied us with explosions and shootings. Nobody thought it was some kind of war. Everyone probably thought that they would shoot a little again and everything would fall into place.
Family life before the Russian invasion/Photo courtesy of Lilia
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When did you realize the situation was much worse than it was in 2014?
Any of us is already accustomed to civilization: what is light, water, heating, communications, the Internet, all the benefits. It seems to me that without the Internet now there is nowhere at all. When our heating went out a few days later, we didn't pay much attention to it. After all, there was still gas, so we turned on the burners and heated the water. It was still possible to live. However, the shooting became stronger and stronger. I cooked once a day. We divided explosions into three categories:
- when far;
- when loud;
- when windows shake.
War in Mariupol/Photo from telegram “I am Mariupol”
“We hurt children with ourselves”: about the shelling and isolation of the city
When we sat down in the kitchen to eat with the children, I said: “When you hear strong explosions, you get up and go into the corridor.” We all went there. We all understood that the rules of “two walls” had to be observed. So we lived for a few more days.
On March 1, we turned off the power. Due to the lack of electricity, the pumps that supplied water stopped working. And the connection to the Internet began to disappear. On that day, in the evening, the power supply was still set up for literally a few hours. So we were able to charge our phones. Then the light was turned off again, and after that he no longer appeared. Of course, no one knew what would happen.
You know, every day I thought, well, where could it be worse? I never thought that in the 21st century it could be such that a city of half a million people could leave without any public services. And we lived on the edge of the city, closer to the Zaporozhye highway. Just where the Russian troops came from.
View from the window of the house in Mariupol, where Lilia lived with her family/Photo courtesy of the editors
On March 4, aircraft began to fly over our houses. We realized that everything was already … We covered the children with ourselves. And I understood that if I was gone, no one would need my children. We had no connection with either grandparents, or friends, or relatives. Although we all lived nearby, we did not know if they were alive, if everyone woke up. What is happening in the city where our country ends, and where some other people have already arrived? You just look out the window and think, what is outside my windows?
On the evening of March 4, we decided that we would leave the next morning.
How did you explain everything that happened to the children? And how did they perceive it?
I don't think kids should be fooled. We just tried our best to calm them down. Since the TVs and telephones did not work, we played board games with them. We had a great board game “Farm”. And we even told a four-year-old child everything. Every evening we sat under the lamp and played. Honestly, when they laughed, it was a distraction.
We arranged one room for ourselves. They removed the glass and mirror doors from the closet, removed the interior doors and closed the windows. And in this room, the four of us actually lived around the clock: me, husband, son and daughter.
The room in which the whole family lived/Photo courtesy of Lilia
“When air bombs are already dropped, nothing will save, no basement”
В shelter or did you go down to the basement?
In the early days, the neighbors tried to go down to the basement. When there was still heating and it was warm. When it was turned off, it became very cold there. You know, no one wants to leave their home. It seems to me absolutely nobody. From there, where it is convenient for you, where you know everything. We tried to go out into the corridor as much as possible, if it was very necessary. If you heard shooting or explosions. They did not go to the basement for a simple reason – they are not intended for this, this is not a bomb shelter for war. These are cellars where pipes run.
90% of houses in Mariupol are destroyed and damaged. God forbid, something would flood there. And when they are already dropping air bombs, then nothing will save there, no basement.
“I took out a white paper and wrote “Children” on it through my tears”: about leaving Mariupol
How did you leave the city? Were there any problems at the checkpoints of the invaders?
On March 5, we managed to collect what we had, and with that we left. We drove along the new highway towards Zaporozhye. In parallel with us, people in cars also began to leave. When leaving the city, as we learned, there was the last Ukrainian checkpoint. Our military carried out the instruction. They said that they were no longer ours. It was March 5 at 10:20. We were told to hang all the cars with white rags and white paper.
Burned houses in Mariupol/Photo from telegram “I am Mariupol”
You know, all these days in Mariupol I couldn’t cry, but when you leave the city and see how the same nine-story buildings in which you live are burning … How Epicenter is burning, how pillars of smoke stand … I have tears flowed like a stream. But I took out white paper and through my tears wrote “Children” on it. I just couldn't stop. When there is already burned equipment … When we lived in an apartment, we almost never left the house. We had enough food, although, to be honest, we didn’t feel like eating.
When we were given instructions at the departure, our biggest problem was that we had almost no gasoline. The military told us that “today there will be a green corridor from 10:00. Therefore, drive calmly. Then do not quarrel with anyone and do everything they say.”
neighboring houses near Lilia's house/Photo courtesy of the editors
This was probably the case at the first four Russian checkpoints that we passed. They just looked at our car, asked where we were going from and where we were going.
We are actually 2 kilometers away from the entrance to the Zaporozhye region. And then we see that there is another roadblock. Only there people without equipment, only with machine guns stand and say: “You are not going anywhere further.” And in the convoy at that time gathered about a hundred cars. The stopped people began to catch the connection and read on the Internet that there was a “green corridor”, which was confirmed. And they say: “We have no order to let anyone through, go home.”
We had no options, because we understood that we would not have enough gasoline. Therefore, if we return, then, in principle, we will not leave Mariupol. After that, several cars returned and drove to the first Russian checkpoint, and they were also not allowed back into the city, they said that “that's it, there are fights.” And people returned to us again, in the column.
The only thing they said at the checkpoint was that women with children can pass, while men stay here. Where is “here? It is not clear, because there was nothing there – no tents, nothing. What was their purpose? Well, to be honest, it's not clear. That is, they simply did not let us go further. We stayed there for four hours. We couldn't warm up the car because there was still the same problem with the lack of gasoline.
Near the place where this checkpoint was located, there was a village road. A car appeared on it, probably God sent it. It was the head of the village of Temryuk. It is located literally 12 – 15 kilometers from the place where we stood. And so he came to these military men with food and said, raising his hands: “Here are old people, children, women.” He said that there was a school in the village and asked to be allowed to spend the night there, because it was already getting dark. At first they did not want to let us in, but what to do with us was also not clear. And we were allowed to spend the night in this village.
Probably, we were also lucky that we had relatives in this village, that we did not spend the night at school, but went to the house. We were 12 people in one room. There was no light, no heat. Although there was indeed silence, we did not hear the shots. And the locals already offered us to stay, they said that they would find some kind of house. But when you have lived all your life in the city, I think everyone will understand that you want to return to your usual life.
“Children were covered with blankets so that they would not see the corpses of the military, broken equipment”
We spent the night and all gathered in cars in a column near the school, which was in this village. And they were waiting for news about the very “green corridor”, which, as we later learned, was confirmed by the Ukrainian side. And at 11:00 the Russian side – no. And no one knew that civilians had left during that hour, no one knew about our existence, that somewhere in the fields there was a column of cars to leave the occupied territories.
One of the representatives of this column had a connection with the mayor of Mariupol, Vadim Boychenko. We waited for lunch to have the “green corridor” confirmed again, but it was not confirmed again.
Then they gave us the road and told us to go through the villages in order to bypass the checkpoint where the representatives of the so-called “DPR” were stationed. We were warned to put the children on the bottom of the car and cover them with blankets. There were only battles and all this equipment was there, the corpses of the military were lying, lying right on the roads. I think it will be hard to forget. Because going around all this, every body… It's very hard.
We were led through Pologi and Orekhov. In Pologi we were also wrapped up somewhere. Somewhere there were constant battles, our convoy was not allowed to go somewhere. When we left Pologi, our Ukrainian checkpoint was there. When we drove up to it, an airplane flew and began shelling this checkpoint. I understand that no one knew that a convoy of civilians was coming. Part of some ammunition was dropped from the plane, and then it went to the side or turned around. Our soldiers waved at us to get through quickly. The cars stopped, someone threw the car and ran out, someone began to go even faster. It was chaos. The only thing that pleased us was that we were already in the territory controlled by Ukraine, that there were no Russian checkpoints or the so-called “DNR”.
So we drove to Zaporozhye, where gas stations also had a problem with gasoline. We were told that there is a 10L limit. We had to get to the Dnieper, because we had a place to stay there. We had enough gasoline, probably, for 30 kilometers. That is, we already had the red button on in the car.
When the children went to the gas station and asked to go to the toilet, they said: “Mom, it's so warm and clean here.” I never thought my kids would say that at a gas station.
When we drove up to refuel, the girl asked: “What gasoline, how much do you want?” She saw through the camera that we were from the Donetsk region. I asked, if possible, then 40 liters, to which she replied: “Okay, let's do it.” We got almost a full tank. When we left, the gas station simply closed after us due to lack of gasoline. It was one of the few pleasant moments of that time.
And on the same day we were able to get to the Dnieper and stay with friends who were already waiting for us, they knew that we had already left and were going were worried about us. And so we found ourselves, one might say, on the side of good.
Do you know what is happening to your house now? Did he survive?
We had an apartment and a house. Three shells hit the apartment. We know that our entrance was on fire there, several apartments burned out. But our apartment, as we know, was windowless. Now, perhaps, it is worth it if there was no one there.
The house in Mariupol, where the family lived/Photo courtesy of Lilia
< p class="bloquote cke-markup" dir="ltr">And we were about to move. We built a house and were planning to move in there in the summer. He also suffered – the roof and walls in the holes. It is not suitable for life now. Therefore, nothing really remained.
The house after the shelling, where the family was supposed to move/Photo courtesy of Lilia
“One grandmother died at the beginning of the war in Mariupol, the other one still lives there”
What do your relatives who are still in Mariupol say?
My parents, my husband's parents and my sister traveled together. And in Mariupol we still have my grandmother and my husband's grandmother. My grandmother died during the war, unfortunately. Neighbors say it happened somewhere on March 6-8. She didn't walk well at first. And then, when there was a hit in my grandmother's house, her front door was knocked out. And the neighbors were able to come in and buried her in the yard. Now reburied in the cemetery.
And my husband's grandmother is there, in Mariupol, now. Holding on, living. She says that she has a whole apartment. She doesn't want to leave her home.
You know, the big problem is that the residents who remained in Mariupol are informationally cut off from everything that happens in Ukraine. How many humanitarian buses went towards Mariupol for evacuation and with food – they do not know anything. And they are being told that the Ukrainian side broke all this. As they say, if you inspire a person that he is a fool, then he will become such. I think if they are promoted every day, they just started to believe in it.
The house where the family lived/Photo courtesy of the editors
Do you think your “second” home has really become your home now? Are you and your children comfortable in a new city?
Indeed, very often children talk about the house when we are driving. Everyone remembers their favorite toy, their room. All the pets of the neighbors with whom they walked. They remember all the relatives: “Mom, where is that one, mom, where is that one? We want to get together in the same way. Mom, we want to go home.”
And I always tell them that home is where the family is. No matter where. Now, if the family is nearby, then this is the house.
We lived in the Dnieper for three weeks. I am a chief traffic engineer by profession. She was on maternity leave during the war. I am currently an account manager. When we came to Dnipro from Mariupol to visit friends, strangers offered us their empty apartment absolutely free of charge. We lived there for three weeks. Then we decided to go further, to Vinnitsa.
Relatives lived here. At first they lived with them in the house. Now we have moved into an apartment and live separately. And it's been here for over half a year now. You know, no city compares to where we lived. Not because it's worse there, but because it was ours. Over the past five years, Mariupol has changed a lot. Almost all of our parks have been restored. New playgrounds were made in almost every yard. Now we really miss this.
The life of Lilia's family after leaving Mariupol/Photo courtesy of the editors
“Don't be afraid go ahead and leave what you have”: on the importance of evacuation
What can you say to people who are afraid to leave their homes and move to safer places? What would you advise them?
I want to tell people who have not yet dared to leave their home, their city – do not be afraid! Don't be afraid to move forward, don't be afraid to leave what you have now. Ahead of you are waiting for good and kind people who will help. Taking the first step is never easy.
No matter how hard it is for us now, we have not regretted a single day that we did it. Children have the freedom to learn and develop. For people like us, we organize free master classes, free family vacations in camps, visits to sports and developmental activities. We were received here by the city and the people. Yes, this is not the city we used to live in. But this is a good place where there are wonderful people, life, laughter, freedom.
We are confident that the Armed Forces will return every centimeter of our land, every city. What will you do after the victory?
After the victory, of course, I will cry at first. And I would like to go to my city to hug my loved ones who have been staying there all this time for various reasons.
Mariupol is a Hero City, and Ukraine is sovereign and united. The Armed Forces protect its territorial integrity and inviolability. Despite the fact that part of the Ukrainian territories was temporarily occupied by the Reshists, the day will come when the blue-and-yellow flag will fly in every corner of our state and the national anthem of Ukraine will be played.
