“The most painful thing is to see traitors.” The story of the people of Mariupol about survival in the occupation

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Oleksandr and Maria Sladkovy spent 120 days in occupied Mariupol. For a family that has been promoting Ukrainian culture for almost 10 years, it was extremely difficult and dangerous. “For four months of the occupation, we lived like birds in a cage. The hanging tricolors made our hearts ache,” says the couple. A real miracle helped them save their lives. After all, the family spent the five-hour aerial bombardment of their district just in the apartment. And then she also endured tank fire in the shelter where she tried to hide. There were no injuries. The story of the survival and endurance of Oleksandr and Maria Sladkov – in the special project “Ukrainian Truth. Life” “Hiding Your Own”. Oleksandr and Maria Sladkov “Understood that it would be difficult, but did not think that it would be so much” The Sladkov couple are cultural workers. They have been engaged in creativity since 2014 – they were pushed to this by the influx of “Russian peace”. Despite the fact that they used to be entrepreneurs (traded perfumes and cosmetics), the Sladkovs decided to develop and spread Ukrainian culture. To begin with, they began to fully use the state language. “At first we had difficulties, because at that time we did not know the language quite well. In addition, it was difficult to demonstrate Ukrainian content among exclusively Russian-speaking people,” says Maria. In Mariupol, the Sladkovs worked in the “Ukrainian House” palace of culture, where they had their own creative studio. Maria has a literary weapon: she writes poems and plays, and Oleksandr creates music and is responsible for the technical part. The art of the Sladkovs is an original theatrical and musical event: recitation of poems combined with modern motifs, acting and an interesting video. All content is exclusively author’s. “We were well aware that the war had been going on since 2014. Therefore, we understood that it would be difficult with a full-scale invasion, but we did not think that it would be so much. In 2022, the tough situation in the city began at the beginning of March: bombs were dropped on us from airplanes, fired from hailstones, tanks, self-propelled guns and all kinds of other weapons. It was extremely difficult to survive. Mariupol people died en masse right in their yards while cooking food on the fire. If an arm or a leg was cut off, a person died, because there were no doctors and no one to provide help,” recalls Maria with horror. A house destroyed by the Russians in Mariupol Mass destruction of houses along with people On March 15, several powerful shells exploded near the Sladkovy house. The couple’s apartment is located on the first floor. Both were at home at the time of the explosions. Maria hid in the closet, and Alexander joked that he needed to lose weight to get in there. He had no idea then how prophetic those words would turn out to be. And at the same moment there was a loud crash, a bright flash and glass poured from the windows. “The man didn’t even scream. He just shouted: “Leg.” I see a pool of blood. A shrapnel from the projectile pierced the lower leg and tore out a piece of muscle. The wound was very terrible, the flesh was turned outward. Blood is pouring, there are no bandages. What to do Oleksandr simply closed the wound with his fist, and I ran to look for help.” Fortunately, it was possible to find volunteers who took Oleksandr and another wounded man to the hospital by car. There were a lot of victims. “The wound was covered with some kind of powder and a bandage was stuffed into it and bandaged. There were no painkillers: only ammonia was given to sniff and half a glass of rum was poured,” Oleksandr recalls. With his last strength, the man even managed to hop home on his own: the 5-minute journey took almost an hour. While Oleksandr was in the hospital, Maria took up a hammer and started hammering the broken chipboard windows – after all, it was freezing outside. Just got down to business – the flight arrived again. The blast wave threw the woman, along with the chipboard and the hammer, all the way behind the couch. “I’m lying and thinking: am I alive or not. At that time I didn’t know that the worst was ahead,” recalls Maria. That same night, the Russians carried out a powerful air attack on the area where the Sladkovs lived. Judging by everything, the purpose of the bombing was one: the mass destruction of houses together with the people who lived in them. Because of Oleksandr’s injury, the couple could not run away, so they spent the entire 5-hour attack in the apartment. And the explosions were one after another. “Imagine: an explosion, we count 7 seconds – and again an explosion, another 7 seconds and again. The first shells flew very close, and then we heard how the sounds gradually receded. That is, we understood that the plane was flying and just bombed everything in a row. This attack continued from 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.,” says the woman.
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“For the occupiers, the Azov people are the scariest in the world.” After the horror experienced, the Sladkovs managed to find an opportunity to move to a shelter in the Illichiv District State Administration, where they lived together with 50 other Mariupol residents for 10 days. They slept on improvised beds: they put a torn-off door on four bricks and slept dressed, but the cold still reached the bones. And 10 days later, this bomb shelter was shot by the Russians – just at close range from tanks, knowing that people were hiding there. They worked for 4 hours in a row from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. The walls swayed, everything shook. And the men stood with shovels in their hands: suddenly they would be buried so that there would be a chance to dig out. A fire started due to shelling. And people saved themselves, throwing everything in that shelter, along with the last crumbs of food. “A separate story is the acquisition of products. Imagine the picture: people are standing in line for cookies, the remnants of which are distributed by some entrepreneur. And Russian planes are buzzing overhead. But we are standing, because there was no food at all, not even a crumb! So people died simply in lines for food,” the woman recalls. In some places, the people of Mariupol had to eat porridge cooked on melted snow. They mainly ate pancakes on the water. The body held on, but was losing strength: Maria lost 10 kilograms in a few weeks, and Alexander’s clothes were falling off. “Literally from the first of March, mass pogroms of shops began in Mariupol. According to our observations, everything was initiated by the so-called gunners: they simply took things out of some store, and people saw and also connected. In our opinion, the looting was specially provoked to sow even greater chaos and panic in the city”. After leaving the shelter at the end of March, the Sladkovs saw Russians with white armbands on the street. The couple understood that the city was captured. Cleaning has begun. The locals underwent the so-called filtering: how much they support the “new government”. The “unreliable”, or simply those who were not liked, were thrown into prisons. “They were looking for the Azovs. For the invaders, the Azovs were the scariest in the world. They were scared to death of them, they thought they were some kind of demons. Imagine: they heard a rustling in the thickets, they grabbed a grenade and threw it there – they thought that the Azovs were hiding,” – Oleksandr says. Armageddon was on the streets: destroyed houses, burned cars, fallen trees. And there were piles of human bodies on Nikopolskyi Avenue – they could not be removed for more than a month. “How many died – we will probably never know. More than a year has passed, the occupiers are now razing the crushed houses to the ground, and no one is looking for anyone,” Maria says bitterly. “They could not voice their opinions freely” Having completely destroyed Mariupol, the occupiers pretended to be benefactors, distributing food rations to the people. One day they found Maria Sladkova near the house and handed her a generator. The transfer process was filmed on camera – no matter how much the woman protested, it was not possible to interfere with the filming. Later, the Russians posted this video online. And the positive thing is that the son of the Sladkovs, who managed to evacuate earlier, saw this video and only found out that his parents were alive that way. All the time, the man thought that they had died, because he was looking for them in the apartment, but there he found only a pool of blood from the wound. “When the Illichiv plant was bombed in April 2022, the earth shook like an earthquake: you were sleeping, and your bed rocked like a boat on waves. Although we live quite far from the plant,” Oleksandr recalls. According to the husband, during these four months of occupation, the family lived like birds in a cage. They were aware that they could not express their opinions and positions freely. And the hanging tricolors made my heart ache. “The most painful thing was, you know what? Seeing how the people of Mariupol became traitors, collaborators. Some ex-colleagues even had the audacity to suggest that we take part in a “cultural event for Children’s Day”. Imagine the cynicism?! – indignant Maria. – I , of course, answered that we have exclusively Ukrainian content. And they tell me: “Write something in Russian”. And I imagined the faces of the Russian invaders, who are sitting and listening to a poem in Russian about how much I love Ukraine! Someone told me: “Masha, now it’s not about principles.” This really annoyed me: “And when then about principles, if not to war?!” Thank God, we were not betrayed for our Ukrainian position, on the contrary, they recommended to get out of the occupation as soon as possible.” In mid-April, a connection appeared in the city, and the Sladkovs listened to Ukrainian radio. Once, on the air, Maria heard her own poem about Mariupol – it was read by the children of Ukrainian border guards. It was a kind of sign, so the couple dared to leave the city, leaving their broken apartment and destroyed car. Sladkovy left Mariupol in June. They agreed with an acquaintance that they would take his old grandmother with them, and he would rent an evacuation vehicle for them all. This is how the family managed to get out of the occupation and even take some of the equipment from their creative studio. Currently, they live in Pavlograd, Dnipropetrovsk region, together with their son in a rented apartment. The Sladkovs are cultural workers “We will overcome everything!” In the new place, the creative family continues to develop Ukrainian culture: they created the artistic project “Miracle” – it is about what made it possible not to lose heart, keep faith and stay positive. With this creative creation, the Sladkovs travel all over Ukraine, often performing for displaced people. And this is a kind of art therapy for the audience. In May, Oleksandr and Maria plan to present the author’s play “From papyrus to gadget”: this is a modern youth work with elements of mysticism about the evolution of information acquisition and the inner world of people. “Our home is Ukraine. And we endlessly dream of liberating our native Mariupol and returning to it. We want to believe that it will happen,” says Maria. Maria Sladkova’s insightful poetry inspires great hope – the telling title of one of the poems speaks for itself: “We will overcome everything!” The sky, the pond and the fields are cloudless, the garden is abundantly flowered. It’s dawning… The peaceful land will wake up, To sow rye in time. It seems that peace on the native land will never be destroyed by anyone. And the word “war” is unfamiliar to me. We are used to silence reigning. But it happened, and almost more than once, You don’t appreciate what you have. And suddenly forever, what is, at the same time, you lose the most precious thing in life. War is ruins, suffering and blood, scorched by the fire of fate. This is lost faith, hope and love, Trampled happiness and will. War takes away daughters and sons, destroys the future and dreams. She does not spare mothers’ hearts, Ruined peaceful hopes. War is an abyss, curses and horror, Zorya, which burned out in the fire. This is the noise of my mother, who always asked God in her prayers. Oh, Lord God! Give strength in battle. War, how to pass that exam. Confidence in God, one’s Motherland – This should unite us all. Live, my land, be strong, prosper, Cathedral, happy country. We will overcome everything. You know that, my only Ukraine! *** On the “Shelter” website, caring Ukrainians can offer housing for displaced persons by placing a corresponding ad. Therefore, IDPs can find temporary shelter in any region of Ukraine or abroad, for a few days or for a longer period. The filter system will help you easily choose the option that meets your criteria and quickly contact the owner. The site works in 40 languages. This is a completely volunteer initiative. It was launched on the first day of the full-scale invasion by People’s Deputy of Ukraine Halyna Yanchenko. Later, the “Shelter” program received state support. Homeowners who sheltered displaced persons receive compensation from the state for the payment of communal services. Victoria Yarizhko, specially for UP. Life

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