Hello to everyone who reads my posts and stories about Mariupol and how my family and I got out of there. 😎🖤🔥
I didn’t write a sequel for several days, there were things to do. Sorry.
I want to call this part of the story: "How the hope appeared!".
I already said that we decided to go when my mother's house caught fire. At that time, 80% of houses in Mariupol were already damaged, 30% could not be restored. There was no water, gas, light, heating and communications. We were isolated and the city was in a cauldron.
Were there green corridors? We were promised them, but more often than not, the military fired at them, or there were no corridors at all.
By the time we decided to go, our apartments and houses were still standing.
1.This is the godfather's apartment, when he was in it for the last time, a week before his departure, then it was impossible to go there, as bombs were flying everywhere.
2.This is my mother's house when we decided to leave. He was on fire.
Here's what it looks like now. There were two hits.
3.This is my house when I last saw it. This was 11 days before we left. The house was still standing, but all the windows were broken, the furniture in the apartment was cut by fragments.
It was our rescue carriage! This is the godfather's car, the photo was taken after we left. You can't see it here, but there was no rear window.
When the godfather came to the garage, a bomb fell next to the garage, fragments pierced the metal garage. The metal was 5 mm thick.
Mom's house was on fire. "Mr. S." said: "It's time to go! You can't wait anymore! We can die! Only a miracle saves us! Already all the houses around are broken! Everything is on fire!" My family did not want to go somewhere for a long time. They loved Mariupol, but it was no longer our city.
We decided to go! Quickly loaded the car with the most necessary. There was no time to go to my house or to the godfather. Planes dropped bombs, shells flew, everything exploded, like in a terrible action movie. "Mr. S." offered to spend the night in the frequent house of his friends, because it was already daytime. It was dangerous to drive, it was necessary to go in the morning, so as not to stand in a column of cars at night outside the city. Because they often fired at columns of cars that ended up in the field at night. We rode in the godfather's car with the words "Children" and white ribbons. This inscription and ribbons did not protect against anything.
On the way, we met the same car, with the same inscription, only broken and burned. She was hit by a shell, she was standing on the right lane. The ride was very scary.
The whole city was defeated, the houses were black, corpses lay near the roads, there were crosses made of boards on the lawns.
We arrived at a private house on the outskirts of the city. We decided to spend the night and leave early in the morning. There was another family who asked to live there because a bomb fell on their house. They were in some sect, they prayed all the time. It was a little scary.
There are explosions all around and they are praying.
Mom and I just started unpacking our bags, godfather and "Mr. S." Let's go drain "Mr. S." from the car. petrol.
Part of the house fell on his car at the beginning.
At some point, bombs began to fall around this private house.
The family who were in the house told how their neighbor was killed by shrapnel when she went to the toilet on the street.
When "Mr. S." and the godfather arrived, we realized that there was nothing to lose! Must go! What difference does it make where they kill? In a field or in this house that reeled from every explosion?
The family that was already in the house decided to come with us.
We decided to go to Berdyansk, the father of this family knew how to go there. That's why they rode ahead of us.
Traveling to Ukraine at that time was very dangerous. There were fights everywhere. It was dangerous to go to Zaporozhye, the road was replaced, cars exploded, columns were fired upon, people said that it was safer in Berdyansk.
But it was necessary to go through the DPR. Do you know? We just wanted to live, we just wanted to leave Mariupol.
In the beginning, it was necessary to pass the checkpoint on Mangush. Scorched tanks and vehicles stood outside the city. It was scary, but there was hope in my soul.
From Mariupol to Mangush 25 minutes, but because of the checkpoint at the entrance to Mangush, we stood there for 8-9 hours.
It was a huge convoy of cars when we arrived.
There was a connection on the phone, we phoned friends and acquaintances, most of them left Mariupol.
Friends said that the main thing is not to be in the field at night, because they could fire. But there were no options, the column of cars was large, Mangush was not visible on the horizon, everyone was waiting. There was no rear window on our car, snow was falling, it was cold. There were canisters of gasoline behind me, I could smell it, my nose was swollen.
BUT! We were no longer in Mariupol!
I saw some people walking out of the city on the road because their cars were broken or there was no gas.
You know, I looked back, when we drove away from Mariupol, the city was on fire, everything was in smoke, there was fire, a plane was flying. We heard explosions, but they were far away.
We understood that we were not yet safe, we stood in the field! Soon the night, the column did not move.
BUT IT WAS THE BEGINNING! There was hope in my heart.
Mangush - this was our first point! First goal to freedom! ✊