The story of a Mariupol resident who was deported to Russia with his family

They checked everything

Passports checking, checking mobile phones, checking everything, they questioned us: are you connected with the Armed Forces, or did you help the army, how do you feel about Russia? Acquaintances from the Territorial Defense Force were checked even more thoroughly.

Read here "I covered my daughter with myself": Kharkiv resident Yulia told about escaping from the city

They checked all emails, messages. We were undressed, checked for scars, belts, blows, bruises…

At one point I thought we probably wouldn't live anymore. A video about Putin's funeral with a beautiful melody was found on the phone (relatives from Western Ukraine sent a joke). They ask, "Where did you get this from?" I say, “I don't know where. There was no Internet".

They checked it, it (video) was received on the second day. This, in principle, saved me. There was no connection to the Internet already, so I could neither delete nor hide it.

It (filtering) was not only one. The first was on the outskirts of Mariupol at the end of Komsomolsky Boulevard. The second filtration in Kosk, which is outside the city. In the village of Vynohradne - there were already locker rooms at the checkpoint, even the elderly were undressed.

I say, "What are they doing here?" And they said, "You know, we've received information that the elderly are carrying gold on themselves." And I say, "What could have been taken out, you have already taken out."

You know, there were journalists everywhere. Therefore, there was no ill-treatment. It was like “you see how good we treat them”.

Sometimes they asked: "Say something good about the Russian army". I say, “Are you normal at all? What do you smoke?”. They have given up on me immediately.

Camps for Ukrainians

Then we were sent to the camp in Bezimenne. There was an inspection again, and in Dokuchaevsky there was already a filtration – the check of relatives, phones, and everything else.

The whole camp was poisoned by something before we arrived. They were vomiting with something green. And after we arrived, every second of us had poisoning. They said the water was of poor quality. It was kind of process water for cooking. If you know that it is not suitable for eating, then why do you give it to us?

It turns out that on April 3 we passed the first filtration, and on April 8 we still could not be taken out of there, from Dokuchaievsk. There were too many people, people lived in conditions without toilets, there was nothing. The pit was dug, and everyone just went to the pit instead of a toilet".

I tell them: "Is this your “Russian peace” that you are offering me? Pits and pallets?!”

In fact, we did not live in Russia. We had to move. Those who had money could move, those who did not have it - they had to register to get their tickets. In that situation everything depended on people, of course. If volunteers would help, would find opportunities, you would be lucky.

We happened to drive to Peter's place, and we met volunteers there - good people, to be honest. Thank you very much. They took us to the border (with Estonia).

There was the same check of the phone to see if there was nothing they might not like. Again, there were many questions. The border guard asked me: "Are you planning to return?" I tell him: “Where, to the basement? So, there isn't even a basement, you destroyed it".

There was another moment: a Russian man was walking with us, and I, to be honest, could barely restrain myself, I really wanted to smash his face. He shouted at the border guards: "Why am I standing here for two hours because of some kh*khols?!"

And now I would like to get (to Mariupol), to rebury the guys. And in general, if my eyesight and age allowed, I would pick up a machine gun.

I did not come to them with a weapon, they came to me.