“I warned them: it's going to be a great fighting” — Myslyvets
“The Wagner mercenaries, the Akhmat fighters, the paratroopers - whoever came at us,” recalls Myslyvets of the battles in Mariupol. He was in the city from the first days of the full-scale war. And then he spent a year and two months in Russian captivity.
“It just gives you goosebumps when you hear it: ‘Good evening, guys, you're in Ukraine’,” he says of the exchange day.
How was Mariupol defended and is the state doing enough to return all captured Ukrainians?
Myslyvets, a soldier of the 56th Brigade, talked about this to Serhii Hnezdilov, a serviceman and host of hromadske, in the ++ podcast.
Service in volunteer battalions
Around April 2014, I sold my business, bought some stuff, and got in touch with the guys with whom I started my military service back in 1997. At first, we went to military enlistment offices, but no one would take us. They said we were not needed there.
Then we went to Izium by ourselves. We found a military enlistment office, went in, and I said: “Okay, where is the registration office? Where do I have to go?” There were 10 of us. I remember that the military commissar looked at us and sent us to Sloviansk. There was a small unit there, 30 people with us. We were called “Myslyvtsi” (hunters – ed.). That's where the call sign Myslyvets came from.
In June 2014, we were ambushed near Karpivka, outside Sloviansk. And the artillery covered us. A lot of guys were killed there, almost all of them. No more than 10 people survived. I was hospitalized. Then civilian life started. I went to Poland and set up my business again. And then I came back and joined the volunteer battalions again.
Contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine
In 2019, I decided that I should join the Armed Forces on a contract basis, as it should be. I joined the 56th Brigade, the engineer one. We had some trips, but nothing much happened. Then I suffered a slight contusion and was hospitalized again. And after that, I was assigned to a training ground. I was a training ground sergeant, then a deputy chief of the training ground. The full-scale war caught me in Berdiansk.
Beginning of the full-scale war and defense of Mariupol
At 4 a.m., the chief of the training ground called me and said: “We're gathering at the training ground, the war has started.”
I woke my brothers-in-arms, who were nearby, and said: “Guys, the war has begun. The great fighting is finally starting”.
We received an order to come to Mariupol. I could see that some of them were in some kind of turmoil in their minds. Before we left, I lined up the guys, because almost no one of them had fought (maybe 4 people from the training grounds who had been there in 2015-2017).
I said: “Guys, the war has really started. We are leaving, and not everyone will come back. But I want to tell you that there will be a great fighting and we can show who Ukrainians are.” And everyone replied: “Okay, let's go.”
They wanted to turn us into some kind of support, they didn't want to let the 56th Brigade go anywhere. There was a moment when, on February 26, I walked into the Azov headquarters and said: “Listen, are we going to fight or are we going to sit at the plant and just spit at the ceiling?”
They looked at me and told me to go to Kamianske. There were Azov soldiers there, and there were supposed to be border guards. We had to hold out for at least a day. I shouted to the guys that I was going to the front line: “Who is going with me?” Those who knew me volunteered, and about 20 people gathered.
We came to Kamianske. It was so quiet there, so peaceful. The late Sievier from the Azov unit met us. He said that there would be an attack and storming, and we had to do a sweep. We went and cleared the area. There was no one there, everything was calm, as if there was no war.
Our first battle started literally three hours after we arrived in Kamianske. We were sent to rescue two guys from the National Guard from encirclement on the very edge of Kamianske. It was such an adrenaline rush! So we went and rescued the guys.
We stayed in Kamianske for 12 days. Someday we had 10 assaults, on another one there were 5 assaults. It was different. We fought back well, but I already realized that we might not be able to hold out. Because they were attacking us very hard.
Then they took us in a circle once, then a second time. And when they started to surround us for the third time, Sievier said: “Guys, we need to get out, you won't last much longer here.” And then we retreated to the dairy plant. There we held the defense for 32 days, and then we retreated to Illich plant. When we were told that everyone was starting to leave Mariupol, we were not aware of it.
We made three attempts to get out of the encirclement, but we failed. The machine gunners were standing very tightly: one circle, the second circle, the third one. Then there were Chechens, Akhmat fighters. And we returned to the plant again. It lasted for two days. Then we went to the sinter plant. There we were already in a circular defense, preparing for our last battle.
Unfortunately, it did not take place. We were captured there.
Exchange of prisoners
First, we did not know that we were being taken for an exchange. They woke me up and said that we were going to be shot. But it didn't matter at all… Then the police car, the airplanes. We thought we were being taken to another prison.
We were blindfolded, our hands were tied. And then one day, they untie our hands and eyes. I thought we were sent somewhere for deployment. I didn't even think that it was for an exchange. At all.
And then this guy comes in. It gave us goosebumps to hear: “Good evening, guys, you are in Ukraine”. I can't describe the feeling of being home. The first thing you want to do is call your family, to tell them: I'm alive, everything is fine, I'm back.
All the time I was in captivity, I tried not to forget two things: my identification number and my wife's phone number. I did not forget. I called my wife and said: “Honey, I'm home”.
To those who have relatives or brothers-in-arms still in captivity, I can say: do not lose hope. Never give up hope.