The Ukrainian Volodymyr F. fled from Melitopol with his wife, daughter and mother. He was afraid of being forcibly recruited by the occupiers after the pseudo-referendum and the annexation to Russia. The family was on the road for ten days, driving thousands of kilometers across the Crimea, through Russia, through Latvia and Poland to Germany. Here Volodymyr tells her story.
ntv.de: Let’s start at the beginning: How did you find out in February that Russia was attacking Ukraine?
Volodymyr F.: On the very first day, a rocket landed about two kilometers from us. We sat in a shelter and waited. Electricity, water and communications were cut off. Finally we went to my wife’s parents in a village near Melitopol. At that time there were no Russian soldiers there.
And when did the occupation period begin for you?
Just one day later, on February 25th. Later, when the water and heating were back, we returned to Melitopol.
How did you experience the Russian occupation?
At home, especially in the last few weeks, we have always spent the nights in the hallway to protect ourselves from explosions. It was scary. It was like a gamble: maybe it will hit you, maybe your neighbor, maybe not. Every night there are some kind of explosions. During the day there are attacks in the city, a shop is blown up or something like that. The Russian soldiers randomly control cars and pedestrians. It depends on what their mood is. Maybe you will be checked, maybe not. People disappear for several days in the Russian command for the smallest offences.
What offense?
An argument, a curfew violation, or maybe a Russian soldier is just in a bad mood. People are taken away and that’s it.
Are there many Russian soldiers in Melitopol?
The soldiers are everywhere, there is military equipment everywhere, because Melitopol is a traffic junction. We lived very close to the train station and there is also an airport that has regular flights. There were explosions every night. A rocket hit a street away and damaged houses, the roofs were completely torn off. People have turned to the “new” administration and asked what they should do. In reply they were told that they should go to Kyiv. “These are your rockets. If you want to fix the roof, do it at your own expense.”
Who is this “new” administration?
It’s the Russians and their families who have come to Melitopol, the new mayor for example. And then there’s a few of our people who defected.
Are there many such collaborators?
Yes, but mostly older people because most of the young people left at the beginning of the war. The city is pretty empty. And the old people don’t know how to use the Internet, they watch TV, and only Russian TV. Many believe what is shown to them there.
Seven months into the war, the Russians staged elections in four regions, including Melitopol, to annex the territories. How did you experience that?
The election commission went door to door – a few civilian members of the election commission with ballot boxes and one, two or three armed Russian soldiers. For example, a few women from the electoral commission came to our house. I said to them, “You know, we don’t decide anything here.” They just nodded and laughed. I put a cross for “no” and threw the form into the ballot box. They laughed again and left, that was it.
Even if you just walked down the street, they would come up to you and tell you to vote. It didn’t matter if you didn’t have an ID with you: you could vote on the street without an ID. Some people took part in the voting, others refused. Some put a cross for their neighbors when they weren’t at home. There was no real vote at all, that was all nonsense.
And then you fled?
We drove off on September 25th. When the referendum started, it was clear to us that they would then bring men to fight for us in Melitopol, as they did in Luhansk and Donetsk. The Russians said before the referendum that they would not call up recruits from the annexed areas for five years. But then the Russian-installed governor of the Zaporizhia region announced that he had sent his son to the volunteer command. It was clear that they had lied once again. So we decided we had to go fast.
Where did you go?
We drove to Russia via the Crimea.
Was that possible without any problems?
At the Crimean checkpoint we had to wait in line, but we were let through without any problems and were on the peninsula in the evening. I had been to Crimea before during the occupation, so we didn’t have to answer any questions. I think I was already “filtered,” as the Russians call it, because they interrogated me the first time. Anyone who travels to Crimea for the first time since the beginning of the war will be detained. They check the cell phones and see if there are any suspicious video recordings, for example whether checkpoints or the like have been filmed. We crossed the border relatively quickly – we stood there for six hours, which wasn’t long. During the night we continued to Krasnodar in Russia via the Crimean Bridge, which was damaged by an explosion about a week ago.
Isn’t it possible to go to unoccupied Ukraine from Melitopol?
Vasilyvka on the other side of the front is only an hour away by car. With special papers you can probably get through a kind of border crossing. But we have heard of people queuing there for ten days and being bombed every now and then.
What happened next from Krasnodar?
To Voronezh, then to Moscow, and from there to the Burachki border crossing on the border with Latvia. The queue at the border was very long, maybe three kilometers. We were able to queue at a preferred line as I have a disability. Nevertheless we stood for three days. A friend of mine was also waiting there, he was in a regular line and had to wait six days. People had to sleep outside. It was completely unsanitary. There were no toilets there. On our last day there, members of some church from Russia came and distributed hot tea and something to eat. There was no help from the Russian authorities and we didn’t expect any.
There were also people who wanted to cross the border on foot. Against the cold, they put pallets on the floor and sat on them, but then someone came and took away the pallets, so you had to stand or lie on the cold floor around the clock while the temperature dropped to 5 degrees. Some had children with them… I don’t know how they survived. My daughter passed out from the stress and exhaustion.
Were there Russians in the queue too?
Russians didn’t wait there because they aren’t allowed to go to the border because of the mobilization. Only cars with Ukrainian registration stood in line.
Did the actual border control then run smoothly?
That was at night and started just after midnight. Customs control went relatively quickly. But passport control took a long time. The Russian secret service FSB is said to have checked the documents. We didn’t get them back until 9 o’clock.
Did you then travel to Berlin from Latvia?
Yes. It was 4500 kilometers in total. We were on the road for ten days.
What are your thoughts today?
It’s been a tough journey. We left a house and a car, my mother her apartment. But it was worth it to be able to sleep without worries.
What’s next?
From Berlin we were sent to Bochum and then to Dorsten, where we now live in a tent for refugees. We sit and wait. But we are safe and we are grateful for that. We would like to find an apartment and work. And when our homeland is liberated, we want to return there.
Maryna Bratchyk spoke to Volodymyr F