The life and death story of the hero of Mariupol

As Russian forces tightened the siege of Mariupol and rockets rained down on the city, Mykhailo Puryshev drove into the city six times to evacuate the people of Mariupol. Somehow he survived even though his red truck was completely destroyed.

Mykhailo Puryshev, 36, a former nightclub owner in the city, said he had evacuated more than 200 people in six dangerous trips. Later, others joined him in the rescue operation.

Last week, Russia claimed full control of Mariupol, although some 2,000 Ukrainian troops remained entrenched inside the Azovstal steel plant. Ukrainian officials also say that about 100,000 civilians are trapped in the city.

Privately organized trips like Puryshev’s have been a lifeline for starving civilians when repeated attempts to establish humanitarian corridors have failed.

“The first time I went (on March 8), the city was engulfed in smoke, fire.. The last time I went it was only ashes with the black coals of buildings …”, Puryshev said.

Puryshev has posted videos online of his travels, providing a rare glimpse into the city. Cell phones don’t work there and information is scant.

Puryshev said that the windshield, three side windows and a side door were destroyed by the shelling. “Thank God no one was inside.”

The convoys, Puryshev said, take eight hours through Russian-occupied territory, passing through checkpoints and occasionally encountering clumps of mud and corpses, while constantly fearing landmines.

Bodies were buried on the streets near shopping malls, nightclubs and even on the premises of a kindergarten, Puryshev said. Some bodies were rolled up in carpets and left on benches.

Puryshev asked employees of his former nightclub to build a bomb shelter in the basement of the nightclub. Initially it was a shelter for nightclub employees, but later Puryshev expanded and rescued about 200 other people including the elderly and pregnant women.

“The scariest moment was when the city became quiet. Once, the city was quiet for eight hours. We thought: that’s it. But, when it starts again, it’s terrible!” .

Puryshev recalls, a widow asked him to remove her wedding ring from her husband who had died in an air raid. Puryshev says he cannot do so.

Puryshev said he was finally forced to give up his travels on March 28 when a separatist soldier told Puryshev to never return, or he would be locked up, or worse.

Puryshev said that God protected him. “The only wound I had was a shard of glass on my side. But my jacket saved me and I only got a scratch. Of course God protected me. The bus took care of me. “

Puryshev also had plans for the car after the war. “We will make it a monument when we return to Mariupol,” Puryshev said.