After 20 days of war, I was evacuated with the understanding that I had been "released" not only from 35 years of my past. Any future connected with Mariupol may be no longer possible. New houses, hospitals, fountains, and a theater can be built on the ashes, but not everything can be rebuilt. In the mental sense, there is a limit at which the connection between the past and the present is broken, and a void is formed between them that can never be filled. Many Mariupol residents are already feeling this. I sincerely hope that Mariupol will rise from the ashes like Phoenix, and I will be lucky to return to my homeland one day. However, the former Mariupol - it seems that it has already disappeared with thousands of dead citizens, about whom only memories remain.
February 24. Day 1
I overslept the beginning of the war. I woke up at seven from my wife's call. Complete disorientation, I hung up on the phone, trying to understand what was happening in the country and the city. Early in the morning, the enemy fired on the Mariupol airport and several military facilities throughout Ukraine. I took out a bag with which I went on business trips. Some things were already in it. I put something mechanically without realizing whether it was necessary or not. Collected documents. Thought: maybe we should go to the village, away from the city?
I. went to work, as usual, and on the way, they were sent home. Couldn't this have been done earlier, as the attacks started at five in the morning?! I ran to the garage to pick up I. from work because there was no regular transport from there. There is information on the Internet that a russian landing has landed from the sea. This means that some roads may have been cut. By the time I got home from the garage, I. had said she was halfway there. I'll wait at home. I. returned. She says they were told to work from home - to pull their tails. What a delusion. Who needs it? We quarreled. Everyone is anxious. We decided not to go to the village. Yet.
"It is clear from the news that a full-scale war has begun. The invaders are advancing in several directions at once. The worst predictions have come true. Really! Throughout the previous month, foreign media came to report on how Mariupol was preparing for war and were surprised to find almost no preparations. I also thought the threat was exaggerated.
At 8:30 a.m., something thunderous exploded near the airport. "Metinvest" reported on the preservation of production at the city's enterprises. Somehow too fast. Obviously, they were preparing for this in advance, and the decision has already been made. Rumors of a landing from the sea turned out to be a lie. Somehow we calmed down. We watched the Mayor's address, as always pathetical and almost meaningless.
V.K. is already in Zaporizhzhya. That means he left at five in the morning, in the first minutes of the war! Fast guy. Together with V.D. scoffed at this. Curfew was announced from 22:00 to 6:00.
I rushed to work to pick up a photo bag with a lens. The gate is locked. There is no one in the office. Why didn't I pick up that bag yesterday? I didn't want to drag because I went to A.Ch. to see the final layout of my book. I'll pick it up tomorrow, I told myself. Who knew there would be no tomorrow? Yesterday I talked to A.L. regarding work in the agency, they agreed. Now, it seems, everything is useless. How to make out and receive a press card? No way. The book also went down the chute. Nonsense, but I feel a little bit sorry for the bag. Mobile communication is unstable, I talked to my parents. I tried to calm them down but became furious myself. From the east, it rumbles incessantly. Standing on the street in front of the office is scary.
I arrived home around noon. There are ueues to all ATMs, gas stations, supermarkets, pharmacies. In general, everything works as usual. For the first time, sirens sounded at about three o'clock. They say they have been before, but nothing can be heard in the apartment. You need to open the window. We did not go anywhere. We have no idea where the shelter is.
I. found a list of shelters, one of the addresses is next to us. I went to see, it is locked down. From the east, we could hear the MLRS "Grad" firing. I remember this sound well since 2014. I thought I had forgotten - no, this can not be forgotten.
We learned that the same houses were damaged in the Vostok district during the first shelling as in January 2015! This is a fate! From the left bank D.B. writes that the shelling is close. They fled from a multi-storey house to the basement of their unfinished home. Later, a worker came to them to plaster the walls. Both funny and sad. All evening on the phone - news, news, news. Fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv, Hostomel airport attacked, the occupiers are trying to capture the bridgehead to attack the capital. Then they write that it is defenced, then it is captured again, it is defenced again. Chaos. Kharkiv, Sumy, Henichesk were attacked. Russian troops are attacking Chernobyl. They are really crazy! Battle on Zmiyinyy Island. The first day of the war - and such a heroic episode at once! It seems that there will be no repeat of 2014, when there were many traitors among the army and law enforcement officers. There will be a fight!
February 25. Day 2
Last evening on the nerves, the night was relatively quiet. Slept without undressing. In our apartment, as, probably, in all Khrushchev project, except for a corridor, there is no place where it would be possible to hide. Everywhere you are near the window, and the load-bearing wall inside the apartment is only one. We moved the mattress from the bedroom to the corner of the hall. At least on one side there will be a strong wall. From the east. It is from there that remote cannonade can be heard all morning. Sometimes single explosions are heard quite close, from the airport or checkpoint on the Mangush road.
I taped the glass and barricaded the windows with books. I never thought I would use my library like that. It's good that I have a lot of books. Enough for all the windows. Art literature is best suited for this. The format is large. The paper is thick, each is like a brick. For some time, I looked at the collection of works by Strugatsky, which inspired memories of student times. Oh, how hard it was to get those 10 volumes then. The Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Rock Music is a unique edition, Zhadan's autographed poetry. Science fiction above. What happened yesterday is also fantastic but not scientific.
I went to the supermarket. I bought pasta, rice, butter. I found water for bottling in the village on the way from the garage. Lifehack: it is easier to buy something in small shops than in supermarkets. As yesterday, giant queues at ATMs and pharmacies. The agiotage about food has decreased, but the shelves with bottled water, bread, and cereals are often empty. ATB is generally half-empty. Gracia has products - prices have risen significantly. Local bastards in their repertoire, national retailers still somehow keep within. I bought a bag of potatoes at the store below. Caucasians who hold this basement are the only ones who have not raised prices at all. Gasoline is already UAH 38.
There are problems with non-cash payments. However, the supply is made. If you look for bread, you can buy it. Water is delivered. Public transport is available. I saw a cash register loading money. More than a hundred people gathered in two or three minutes. I'm third. The ATM gives a maximum of UAH 1,000 and a limit of three transactions. I took 3,000. Unbelievable luck - I bought something for food and withdrew money.
At the stop, I saw a group of Indian students, near the dormitory of Donetsk Medical University. Trying to leave. What a lack of luck! They thought to spare money on studies. They came from so far away and got into such trouble here.
Evening. We almost never let go of phones. Complete information dependence. Viber is slowing down more and more. Only Telegram is working stably. The occupiers are already in Melitopol. Sartana is said to have been bombed from a plane. Somehow I can't believe it! Maybe a mistake? Around 19:00, the left bank was heavily shelled again. We could hear very well. In social media they say there was a shelling near 48 school, and a nine-storey building collapsed somewhere in the square. Some say it is the Mayor's house. It turned out that the house did not collapse, but it was still hit by "Grad".
February 26. Day 3
The third day of the war with Russia. The city was shelled again. There are victims. The battle has been going on since morning. Artillery can be heard loudly, and for the first time I hear aviation. Apparently, the air strike on Sartana is true. What a horror! Is the bombing of a Greek village really necessary to protect the DNR? It is impossible to understand.
My colleagues from F.C. Mariupol are stuck in Turkey. The team was to depart from Istanbul on the morning of February 24. The flight was canceled when they were already at the airport. Everyone was returned to the hotel. Fortunately or unfortunately? Fortunately, they are far from war. Unfortunately, many have families left, in the Eastern district of Mariupol, in Sartana. I also could go to that gatherings and get stuck in Antalya. Fortunately, I am with my family, in Mariupol, in the middle of the war.
The food panic did not calm down. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find bread. I bought some buns and wanted to take them to my grandfather. It turned out that my mother took her last half of the loaf from the other side of town. Why? It isn't easy to buy fuel. Diesel is still available. To fill up with gasoline, I passed seven gas stations. While standing in line, you can clearly hear the sound of the plane. Whose? I hope ours. And do we have aviation at all? I do not know. I feel nervous. Some couldn't stand it - they left. I put the glass up and turned on the radio - so I couldn't hear anything. Limit - 20 liters, price - 40 UAH. I had about 15 liters, so the tank was almost full. The computer shows that 500 km is enough. Fine. If anything, it will be enough not only for the village.
In some densely populated areas, the civil protection system does not seem ready to protect the population. Even at officially announced addresses, nothing can be - either closed or completely unusable. All social networks are flooded with such messages. Sometimes they say they may not let you into the shelter if you are from another house. What a hogwash. The basement in my entrance is the name itself. It is impossible to hide there. The saleswoman of the basement store with vegetables says that they are open to hiding there. This seems to be the best option.
The heating in the apartment was turned off, probably yesterday because today is already noticeably cool. V.D. (works in the heating network) says that the boiler house operates normally. N., I.'s sister, came with her child and husband. They are scared at home. Their 14-story house stands out almost on the edge of town like a stick in the middle of a field. From it, you can clearly see the western approaches to the city and the airport's surrounding area. A strategic position, it can come under fire. We dragged our mattress back to the bedroom with the windows to the east. Being there is very uncomfortable - we hear the shelling. I learned that the bridge near Komyshuvata was blown up. It seems to run away to the village too late.
There are a lot of photos of russian columns moving from Berdyansk to Mariupol on social networks. Entrances to the city have already been barricaded on the western outskirts. Mountains of slag were piled up, and roads were filled with old buses and trucks. I hope that the occupiers will be burned on the march and there will be no city battles. The course of events at the front suggests that our army seems to be fighting heroically and effectively, and professionally. This is no longer the naked and barefoot army I saw in 2014 at checkpoints near Mariupol. It seems that the blitzkrieg has been broken - we believe in the Armed Forces.
