Letter from captivity: "Checked. Correspondence Verification Inspector"

The letter, written on an ordinary sheet of paper in the box, has a stamp: “Checked. Correspondence Verification Inspector”.

Valentyna Klymovych stood at the threshold of the maternity hospital with a baby sleeping bag with her son in it. Relatives and friends came to pick her up. However, the celebration of the birth of a new person, for which she was waiting so much, was sad. What she would like most in the world right now is for her husband to take her away from the place where new people are born. But he was there, where communication appears only from time to time. Under bullets. Missiles. Bombs. In Mariupol.

The last days in Mariupol before the great war

She last saw Dmytro on February 23. He came home at lunchtime. He was exhausted. For two weeks already, the entire crew of the search and rescue vessel “Donbas” has been on duty on the ship. They were not allowed to go home at night. While the risks of a Russian invasion were assessed on TV, the chief mate, Dmytro Klymovych, told his wife about the sabotage that was already taking place but reassured her: everything would be fine. Valentyna prepared food for her husband, came, and lay down next to him. She started sobbing. Dmytro woke up from her sobs. “What's wrong?” he asked half-asleep. She cried out her fears: “What if the war suddenly starts, and you will be taken away, what should I do, and what about our son?” Valentyna was 9 months pregnant.

Dmytro calmed her down, collected the lunchboxes with food, and ran out of the apartment. Every time he came from work or left, he kissed her, but that day he didn’t, they didn't even say goodbye properly. And at 5 a.m., he called and ordered to collect things: “My boys will pick you up.” Valentyna took the bags and documents that were prepared for the maternity hospital, put the cat in the carrier, and got out of their Mariupol apartment with a 9-month-old baby bump.

She left Mariupol in a friend's car. She wanted to stay with relatives in Zaporizhzhia to return home in a few days. And what else could she do? Dmytro and she planned everything — she would give birth in hospital No. 3. Partner childbirth. He has to see how his pumpkin is born. But Dmytro shouted into the receiver: “What do you mean, Zaporizhzhia? Go to your parents to Volyn!”

Then he called once for several days: “We are holding on. We will break through. Everything’s fine”. And Valentyna read the news from Mariupol and understood: nothing is fine there. On March 9, footage of the hit at the maternity hospital at hospital No. 3, where Valentyna worked as a doctor and was about to give birth to her son, circulated around the world. The woman got nervous and texted Dmytro, worried about colleagues she knew. He texted back that everyone survived and hid in the basement. And the very next morning Valentyna gave birth prematurely. In Volodymyr, 1,300 kilometers from the bombed Mariupol maternity hospital, where her son was to be born in the presence of his father.

Tymofiiko is now six months old. He looks just like his dad, whom he has already learned to call. A child's first “daddy” echoes across the room, but a boy's “daddy” is the man in the photo. Son and father have not yet met.

Dmytro Klymovych with his wife Valentyna
Photo:  provided to hromadske

Dmytro Klymovych's son, Tymofii
Photo:  provided to hromadske

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On March 12, Dmytro got in touch and Valia told him about the birth of their first child. On March 17, she sent their son's first photos. Dmytro called for the last time on March 21. He told her cheerfully that they had a very hearty lunch and that they would soon have help. Later, Valentyna will be told that in those days the five of them ate one can of sardines. On March 21, Dmytro didn't eat it at all, he said: “Guys, I'm not hungry, eat it yourself.” He repeatedly told her on the phone: “We will break through, everything is fine.” And then he disappeared. On March 29, an unknown man called Valentyna and informed her that Dmytro was in captivity.

Then Valia found out how everything was. Dmytro and his comrades were surrounded for many days in Mariupol, the ammunition ran out, and the commanders decided to break through. They put on the civilian clothes they got and split into groups. But only some of them broke through. Dmytro Klymovych fell into the hands of the Russians.

For several months, Valentyna lived in a daze. Between feeding her son and changing diapers, she was searching for a husband. At first, his traces were found in Berdiansk Colony No. 77, then — as comrades who were released from captivity have already told — her husband was in Sevastopol. In the city where he studied.

Dmytro Klymovych with his wife Valentyna
Photo:  provided to hromadske

Nakhimov Academy cadet, who did not betray his oath to Ukraine

It was also spring then. Spring 2014. Little green men appeared in Crimea. 18-year-old Dmytro Klymovych was a sophomore at the Admiral Nakhimov Naval Academy. The previous year, a boy from Volodymyr-Volynskyi successfully passed the external independent assessment and decided to enter here — he always dreamed of a military university, because his father is a military man. He successfully passed the entrance sporting regulation — at school, he wrestled and swam - and became a Nakhimov Academy cadet.

When the Russians took over the academy, all the cadets were summoned. They were not scared or beaten. On the contrary, they were lured with a carrot. Russians promised ten times higher scholarships and immediately improved food. The guys from Crimea agreed to go over to the Russian side. Guys from the mainland made various decisions. Dmytro flatly refused.

On the day when the occupiers organized an official celebration of the transfer of the academy to Russia, those who refused were ordered to sit indoors and not stick their noses outside. Retired sailors and pensioners were invited to the celebration. The cadets were lined up. First, the flag of the Naval Forces of Ukraine was removed. And when they began to take a blue and yellow flag down, the script was broken for the Russians by a group of cadets who went out into the street and began to sing the national anthem of Ukraine at the top of their lungs. Dmytro Klymovych was among them. Those shots then flew all over the media. Ukrainians admired the brave cadets.

Then Dmytro continued his studies in Odesa. Once he came to his hometown, Volodymyr, and met Valia, a student of the Ternopil Medical University. At the words that he is a sailor, Valentina laughed: “And where are you sailing? In our river?” But after a year and a half, they got married, and later Valia moved to Mariupol. A graduate of the Odesa Academy was sent there to work on the ship "Donbas".

Dmytro Klymovych, chief mate
Photo:  provided to hromadske

The letter, written on June 2, arrived to the family on August 29

Half a year has passed since the day Valentyna last heard from her husband. All the time, she monitors all possible Telegram channels and watches videos, but in vain — the Russians never mentioned her husband in a single word or nor was he shown in a shot. The Red Cross confirmed that Dmytro Klymovych was indeed in captivity. This means that the man is definitely alive.

On August 29, the family received the first news from Dmytro — a letter. He wrote it on June 2. Valentina then spent a long time comparing each letter with Dmytro's old writings — did he really write the letter? After all, Dmytro did not know Russian very well and had never written anything in it. The handwriting was slightly different from his handwriting before the capture, but the letter was definitely written in her husband's hand. Probably, Dmytro wrote the letter under dictation and the censor not only checked what was written but also controlled the process itself.

Valentina did not talk about her husband's capture for half a year. She was assured that it could harm him because he is an officer. But now the woman decided to tell so that not only she knew that her husband was in captivity.

Dmytro turns 27 on October 4. Valentyna will celebrate her birthday on October 22. And her greatest desire is to hug her husband.

Dmytro Klymovych’s letter from captivity
Photo:  provided to hromadske

 “I feel sorry for both him and my child. You have no idea how he waited for our son. More than me. He came home from work every evening and told our son, still in my belly, how his day had passed. He said: ‘I want to kiss him so much, I don't want to kiss your belly anymore.’ The child is long-awaited and planned. And it is so unfortunate that he does not see how the child grows.”

By Khrystyna Kotsira