National Guardsman from Mariupol told about life under siege
The war did not elude any Ukrainian. But there are those who found themselves at the epicenter of events on February 24 — Mariupol citizens. The occupiers surrounded the city and began shelling peaceful homes. Nevertheless, the military was ready to defend every corner of Ukraine.
On February 24, at three o'clock, Vladislav Romankov, a combat medic and soldier of the National Guard, was gathered when an unfortunate alarm sounded at 4 o'clock in the morning.
“Everyone got weapons and there was a team to collect medicines. Something related to my profession. Everything was collected. What I had, I gave away: part — Azov, part went with us in our ambulances to help both military and civilians,” Vladyslav shared
The “weapons” of doctors were turnstiles, bandages and syringes. Everywhere they carried an automatic machine. Fortunately, he was not needed, because there was no direct contact with the Russians.
“I remember that there was such a story: in the morning on the radio they report that two hundred infantrymen of the mobilized DPR are approaching. About 4 days they report, “The sector is cleaned”. That is, our units worked, Azov's units worked. So 200 infantrymen did not come. They did not enter the city. They asked - they did not come in,” the soldier said.
It did not do without supporters of the “Russian measure”. While there was contact in Mariupol, they monitored the movement of our boys and girls and reported the enemy.
“Pro-Russian residents sent photos to the Russians for a long time to say that the military are here, shoot here. But, apparently, until March 14, our positions in the city were not fired at all. But according to our positions in the neighborhoods it was very scary. Nine-storey buildings were fired from tanks, from the old Crimea,” the combat medic emphasized.
All this time our warriors stood side by side and supported each other. They knew that they had those who would be able to pick them up from the battlefield in case of injury and provide assistance. Thanks to the interaction, Vladislav and his colleagues managed to save the wounded.
“As soon as the injured person comes to us, we immediately establish verbal contact with him. In order for him to be conscious. Indeed, we said that everything would be fine and were taken to the hospital,” the boy emphasized.
Since the beginning of the war, the 26-year-old combat medic worked on the right bank of Mariupol. On the other, near Azovstal, lived a grandmother. Contact with her disappeared on March 1, there was no opportunity to reach her.
“How she was and what I didn't know. Thanks to witnesses, I was able to find out that my grandmother's house was smashed by an air strike. She, along with other pensioners, hid in a neighboring building in the basement. A bomb also hit this basement, sometime on March 14. And the basement folded. Grandma probably stayed there, but that's not for sure,” Vladislav recalls.
Even such a tragedy did not make the man give up. After all, on the battlefield, his brothers were waiting for him.
“This is my duty,” the combat medic assured.
From Mariupol, the military along with the head of the medical center and the battalion medic left on foot. The story of who they are and why they leave the city was invented in advance. We changed into civilian clothes and set off in the direction of Berdyansk at 7 am. They walked into the dead of night and bypassed 12 Russian checkpoints.
“I carried a hidden phone with photos from Mariupol with me, because I did not want to delete it. These are crimes, the evidence base for the upcoming trial. Therefore, the phone with photos, what I was able to film there, I took with me. I hid it in my underpants — this is a city they would hardly climb into. They stripped naked, removed their outerwear, looked for tattoos, bruises from a body armor, a machine gun. I had such bruises, but they were on my legs, on my hip. Fortunately, they did not look there,” Vladislav shared.
National Guard of Ukraine
