"As soon as we entered Olenivka, they got Grads out to pound us" – released Azov fighter 'Docent'

"Calm down, get ready for your life to change," he heard every time he picked up the phone on February 24. On the morning of the first day of the full-scale war, Vladyslav Dutchak with the call sign "Docent" was heading from the Azov Regiment base to Mariupol. He was constantly receiving calls from Russian numbers: the answering machine was turned on and a woman's voice spoke. "Dotsent" assumes that the calls were made deliberately to keep the line busy so that Mariupol residents could not contact him.

Vladyslav Dutchak's life really did change. Weeks in Mariupol destroyed by Russians, the defense of Azovstal, and Russian captivity followed. And minus 30 kilograms of weight.

Nowadays, the photos of Mariupol and the plant cause pain for "Docent": "The city that does not exist. I liked Mariupol, I wanted to move my family there while I was serving. Now it feels like I lost a friend".

"To serve the Motherland the way you do it best"

Vladyslav first came to Azov in 2017. He was invited to give lectures on the military history of Ukraine for the soldiers of the unit. By first education, Vladyslav is a historian, by second — an economist-manager. He is a candidate of philosophical sciences, taught political science and philosophy at Dnipro and Zaporizhzhya universities. He accepted the invitation of Azov immediately.

"This is a legendary unit that from the very beginning united people who shared my views. I really wanted to join the Azov Regiment, but my health did not allow me. Only gradually did I come to the realization: 'What if you can serve your Motherland in the same way as you can, as you do it best?'"

For a month and a half, Vladyslav lived among the Azov fighters as a guest lecturer, and later did basic military training and received a National Guard chevron. "Docent" began to teach the fighters on a regular basis.

"Azov was like a red rag to a bull"

The full-scale war caught Vladyslav in the second year of his contract with Azov. On February 24, together with other colleagues, he woke up from the alarm at the regiment's base in Yuriyivka near Mariupol.

"Did we expect this kind of war? No, we did not. But Azov was ready for any challenges, the guys were constantly preparing. It was a surprise for us then that the enemy did not strike at our deployments. Among ourselves, we said: 'When such a war starts, they will launch missile strikes on our bases, because for the Russians Azov was like a red rag to a bull, and we will not even notice the war, because we will be completely destroyed by missiles'," Vladyslav shares his thoughts.

Later, when the Russians asked him in captivity what he felt when the fighting started, he answered briefly: "Surprise".

On the morning of February 24, Azov fighters lined up in columns and went to Mariupol. Vladyslav was one of the last to leave Yuriyivka.

"I remember how it is now: our old Niva car is driving — there is no one behind and no one is going to Mariupol in front, and columns of Mariupol residents leaving the city are coming towards us in the direction of Berdiansk. At the same time, my phone is bursting with calls from Russian numbers, and it was known in the city as a number for communication with volunteers and the Azov Regiment. Obviously, Russian special services were constantly calling to prevent locals from contacting us."

Before the start of the large-scale offensive Vladyslav worked not only with the personnel of Azov, but also with Mariupol residents. Together with his comrades-in-arms, he conducted lessons on the history of his native land in schools. Since the beginning of the war he delivered generators, water, food and medicines to the locals. Until mid-March, Vladyslav traveled around the city and helped the people of Mariupol, and then joined other Azov fighters at Azovstal steelworks. There, "Kalyna" (Sviatoslav Palamar – Azov deputy commander) gave him a task to prepare a newsletter. It came out every day and was called: "Mariupol Defense Headquarters informs". The text contained information for the previous day: what losses the enemy suffered, where the battles for the city are taking place, how much Russian equipment was burned and a digest of news from all over Ukraine.

"While our printer and generator were working, we were printing copies. About 40-50 copies every day. When commanders came to the meeting from the positions, and the meeting was held every evening, we gave them these sheets, they carried them to the positions and distributed them to the soldiers, as well as brought them to the bomb shelters where civilians were. And in this way we raised the morale"

"We were given the word of a Russian officer"

In early May, civilians began to be evacuated from Azovstal, followed by seriously wounded soldiers, and then an order came from the top leadership to the Ukrainian military to surrender.

"Everyone understood perfectly well that surrendering was not an option for an Azov soldier. During the Anti-Terrorist Operation, the guys who were captured experienced everything that awaits an Azov soldier in Russian captivity. We found ourselves on separatist websites, our photos and information that we are Nazi criminals, we are wanted and will be tried by tribunal. My photo was also there".

So when the political leadership and command decided that further defense was futile and would only lead to heavy losses, there was anxiety, Vladyslav says. But then "Redis" (Denys Prokopenko – Azov commander) came to the fighters and said that the garrison would stop fighting and leave Azovstal under guarantees — the warriors laid down their arms.

"It was about honorable captivity. The Russian side gave guarantees. We were given the word of a Russian officer. But the enemy did not fulfill what it guaranteed us. Let it remain on the conscience of the Russian officer who gave this word. As long as our fighters remain in captivity, it is advisable not to tell much, especially about the conditions, because, unfortunately, the enemy does not show nobility and does not treat our prisoners of war as prisoners of war."

The Russians began to violate the guarantees immediately after the fighters left Azovstal.

"They immediately took off my watch on the bridge, they said: 'You can't wear a watch'. I said: 'Yes, you can' — 'No, no, no, no, no' — 'Okay'. They took it off. They took the money, it was a funny story. There was a little more than 1,000 hryvnias ($25), a lot of money, it was in my passport, and we were told that we could take it with us. And these two soldiers, who were examining my things, they were passing my passport to each other in such a funny way, passing it, passing it, and then saying: 'Take your things and go, go, go'. And I come up, and there is no money in my passport. And you think: it's just pennies, it's not serious. One guy's glasses were taken away. He has vision problems in general. Or a contact lens case was thrown away, or a toothbrush. There were such moments, but no one really paid attention to them, and the further we went, the more and more the conditions under which we were released were violated."

"One Azov fighter was interrogated by 6-8 people with a dog"

After leaving Azovstal, the Ukrainian military were taken to Olenivka. Vladyslav stayed there throughout his captivity. Compared to the hell they had to endure at Azovstal, Vladyslav says, at first the conditions there were more or less normal. However, later everything only got worse.

"We also had obligations — not to violate the conditions of stay there, not to arrange revolts and provocations. We behaved decently. Azov fighters were immediately separated from other defenders of Mariupol. We were not involved in any work. I do not know what it was due to. Perhaps it was their internal regulations, because Azov fighters were considered more dangerous than others." 

Most of the warriors were held in barracks, "locales" as they were called — two-story buildings with rooms, each with a different number of people, and a small courtyard next to the building, where prisoners were allowed to walk.

"I kept trying to remember how many steps there were. I counted 12 and a half along, and no more than 60 across. And now 360 more people are there at the same time, walking in circles, and there is not enough space. There were several horizontal bars and the guys even in conditions of rather limited rations, which was still enough, tried to keep themselves in shape."

The first guards who met the prisoners in Olenivka, Vladyslav says, were quite neutral towards them. They were Russians who work in Russian... children's colonies. A month later, the second shift of wardens arrived — very professional, with correct Russian language. "Docent" presumes that they came from Moscow or St. Petersburg.

"It was felt that they were people from some serious institutions. They were extremely polite. They strictly followed the regulations and a certain protocol. One Azov could be interrogated by 6-8 people together with a dog".

The third and fourth shifts were quite different. They were treated not as prisoners of war, but as criminals. Then came the hard times.

"Their professionalism was lower, and their attitude was getting worse. Analyzing now, I understand that these people came from the hinterland, from penal institutions where especially dangerous criminals are kept. They applied their model of behavior to prisoners of war".

Vladyslav says that no one would die of hunger in the colony. They gave him food three times. Before the war he weighed 106 kilograms, before leaving Azovstal — 86, when he returned from captivity — 74 kilograms.

Interrogations for propagandist media

In late May, propagandists posted a video in which "Docent" answers their questions. "Did he indoctrinate the Azov fighters ideologically?" asks a voiceover. To which Vladyslav calmly answers: "No", and explains that he gave lectures on the military history of the world and Ukraine, conducted humanitarian training of soldiers and set them up for critical thinking.

In the same video, Dutchak denied Azov's involvement in mass graves in Mariupol. And when asked who the residents of the "L/DPR" are for him, the soldier answered: "Ukrainians. Of course, there are people among them who are mistaken in their views, but they are Ukrainians — the same as us. Sooner or later we will find a common ground with them. If we cannot find common ground, I hope that my children and their children will".

"Between the lines I asked them to shoot more accurately"

Vladyslav says that from their first days in Olenivka, Russians started shelling Ukrainian positions from under the colony walls.

"As soon as we entered the colony, they immediately drove up self-propelled artillery systems and Grads and started shooting from them. We could watch it from the second floor of our "locale". Ukrainian troops did not respond at first, because they knew we were there, and then they were given some systems that they began to respond very accurately to the positions of the Russians. Once our troops hit so well that they made Russians and separatists very angry. They came to the colony and demanded that we record an appeal to the Ukrainian military not to shoot at the colony. We could not ask our military not to respond to the shelling, so we consulted and wrote down the appeal. I listed all the prisoners of war who are in Olenivka and said that we are waiting for the exchange and it would be unpleasant if a Ukrainian shell cut short our lives. Between the lines, I asked them to shoot more accurately. A few weeks had passed and the terrorist attack took place in Olenivka".

On July 29, explosions occurred in Olenivka colony. Russian propagandists tried to blame the shelling on the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The General Staff and the Office of the President stated that the occupiers deliberately committed a terrorist attack to accuse Ukraine of committing war crimes, as well as to hide the executions and torture of prisoners.

Most of the prisoners learned about the tragedy in the morning. The occupiers again came to them with a demand to record an appeal, saying that the Ukrainian military had fired at the prisoners.

"We could not say so, it was not true, so we wrote down a statement that during another artillery duel our brothers were killed. Russians constantly fired at Ukrainian positions, Ukrainians responded accurately, and there were no attacks on Olenivka from their side".

"We never saw the Red Cross"

On September 21, "Docent" and others were taken out of Olenivka. They said they would form a column for the stage. The names of officers and media people were read out, then Vladyslav had an assumption that it could be an exchange, but the treatment of the prisoners of war on the part of the occupiers dispelled these guesses.

"During such events, the role of international organizations is very important, but we did not see the Red Cross either during our stay in the colony or during the exchange. When a person is taken from a prisoner of war camp and transported to an exchange point, a third party must also be present there to avoid any excesses. Because during our transfer different things happened".

On the plane, Vladyslav still hoped for an exchange, but later his hope faded. He thought that they were being taken to "Redis" to visit Lefortovo (a detention center in Moscow where the commander of the Azov Regiment was held). Russian airlines took the prisoners to Moscow, and from there — to Belarus. There, the attitude towards the prisoners changed to neutral, they were told to suffer a little more, they would soon return to their native land.

"It's an incredible feeling when you walk and you don't have to keep your hands behind your back, you can finally raise your head and not look down, but look at people. And those people who look back at you love you, no one wants to hurt you, you are back in your family. When we boarded the Ukrainian bus, the driver approached us. He said he had two phones and if anyone needed to call, he could give them to us. It was his initiative and his money on the phone. I called my mother and told her that I had been exchanged, and in response I heard: 'Thank God'."

"Russians asked me and all the others meticulously: 'What will you do?' And I answered them: 'We are adults, I do not belong to myself, I signed a contract'. We all understand perfectly well: while there is war, our duty is to defend the Motherland. Who can, who has what qualifications and who has enough strength. I assure you — Azov fighters will do it. Each in his own area".