“Pavouk” smiled. In a country extremely proud and respectful of its fighters, united in a national union in the face of Russian aggression, the Mariupol warrior was not entitled to honors, medals, or even the fleeting glory of social networks. Sergeant Rouslan Poustovoit is however the craftsman of one of the most incredible adventures of the war in Ukraine.
During the first weeks of the invasion, while three of its offensives did not bear the expected results, the Moscow army redoubled its rage and its efforts to conquer Mariupol, the port on the Sea of Azov which had refused the tutelage of the pro-Russian separatists of Donbass in 2014. Attacked from the first day of the invasion, February 24, 2022, Mariupol is the first Ukrainian city, and to date the only one, to be violently besieged by the Russian army, from 2 March to its fall on May 20.
During the battle, overwhelmed by Russian firepower, the defenders of Mariupol who did not flee before the encirclement of the city took refuge in the Azovstal ironworks, from where they resisted valiantly for weeks. It is a seat within the seat. Finally driven to surrender, about 2,500 of them went into captivity in Russian prisons. Some died there, others are still languishing there, while others were freed through prisoner exchanges. The “Heroes of Azovstal”, mainly drawn from the Marine Infantry troops and the Azov National Guard regiment, became icons of the Ukrainian armed resistance.
talk about fear
Sergeant Rouslan Poustovoit, by his nom de guerre “Pavouk” (“spider”), who commands a platoon of sixteen men from the 35e marine infantry brigade, made a different choice at the time. In agreement with his men, he refuses to let himself be locked up in what he calls “The Azovstal Trap”believing that continuing the fight from the Mariupol plant can only lead to “death or surrender”. He then made the crazy bet of attempting to cross enemy lines and the Russian occupation zone.
The sergeant is certainly not the only one to make this daring choice, but the other soldiers who managed to get out of Mariupol did so individually, or in groups of two or three men, and in civilian clothes. Some have taken side roads, while others have corrupted soldiers on duty at Russian checkpoints. Rouslan Poustovoit’s platoon is, it seems, the only unit to have attempted such a breakthrough in combat formation, on foot, with uniforms and weapons. That is, from March 28 to April 2, 2022, five days and 340 kilometers of marching in enemy territory.
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