He survived hell to help others again

I am very glad that I was born in Mariupol. After finishing school, I enrolled in a metallurgical college, as I wanted to become a metallurgist. However, life took a different turn, and I went into business instead – opening a grocery store. I also worked with the Azovstal steel plant, supplying lime, which we packaged and used to produce various construction mixes.

Since 2014, volunteering has become an important part of my work. We organized collections of construction materials and delivered them wherever they were needed. I became even more involved after the shelling of the Skhidnyi district. On that day, around the exact time of the attack, I was supposed to go there on business, but my mother asked me to wait – she needed to go there as well. That delay of about 15 minutes saved my life. After that, my determination to help others only grew stronger.

«Misha! Are you asleep? The war has started!»

Like many Mariupol residents, I woke up to a phone call. It was my sister. She said, ‘Misha! Are you asleep? The war has started!’ At first, I didn’t understand anything – it felt as if I was still dreaming. When I turned on the TV and saw that every channel was broadcasting that vile figure claiming they had come to ‘save’ us… it all felt unreal. Slowly, I began to come to my senses and realize that this was actually happening, that I wasn’t asleep. I quickly started packing an emergency bag, but then I thought about my business – I needed to do something about it. So I went to my shop.

I stayed there until 5 March, even spending nights in the shop. There was still a lot of stock – food, drinks, water, and so on. At first, I thought about selling everything, but then I just started giving it away. I could see that there was no communication, no police or other services, and disorder, theft, and looting were beginning.

«The first reaction was to get up and run»

One day I went outside to check on my car because I had heard shelling and saw something burning in the yard. I stepped onto the corner of the building, and after about a minute, it felt like the ground shifted under me – I didn’t feel anything at first, and then I was lying on the ground. My first reaction was to get up and run. I tried to stand, but I couldn’t. I looked down and saw that my leg was broken. Thank God, a neighbor from another building saw me. His car was nearby, and he dragged me into it and took me to the hospital.

The hospital was filled with many wounded people like me. They were lying everywhere, making it impossible to move through the corridors. By some miracle, the orderlies carried me up to the third or fourth floor. At first, I thought they would just put on a cast and I could go home. But it turned out to be a very serious fracture that required surgery. I had an Ilizarov apparatus installed. The procedure took a long time. The doctors performed it under extremely harsh conditions in just 25-30 minutes. I could hear them shouting that the generator fuel was running out and that they had to hurry. Meanwhile, the explosions became much louder, the shelling was very close, and I could hear glass flying from the hospital windows.

«These feelings are indescribable – I just exhaled»

After leaving the hospital, I moved in with friends who lived in the “Zakhidnyi” neighborhood and stayed with them until 23 March. The medication I had received in the hospital lasted about a week. When that area also became unsafe, we decided together to move elsewhere. We went to the village of Nikolske, which by then was already under occupation.

Of course, I couldn’t receive any proper medical examination there since it was just a small rural hospital. So we decided to go to Berdyansk, knowing there were doctors who could save my leg. I stayed in the Berdyansk hospital for a week before we headed to Zaporizhzhia.

We passed through 17 checkpoints. At each one, we had to get out, be searched, and even undress. It was extremely difficult for me in my condition with a broken leg, but we managed to get through them all and reached Zaporizhzhia. I remember passing the last checkpoint, and then, about 2-3 kilometers later, seeing the Ukrainian flag. The feelings are indescribable – I just exhaled.

Everything I had in Mariupol was destroyed. The house is gone, and my car burned down. I arrived in Lviv with nothing, but I had to stay strong. The thought that I was in my own country, on my own land, and the strong desire to help others – that kept me going.

Fulfilled my childhood dream

I had planned to go to Lviv right away because I had previously trained at Ruslan Beltyukov’s business leadership school. In the first days, when communication was still possible, he called me and invited me to come. He told me that everyone should help the country in the ways they can. Since I couldn’t go fight due to my disability, I decided to support our soldiers in another way.

We started producing military clothing and footwear, and I took on the task of finding distribution channels and opening shops. We continue this work today, but another direction has been added – digital printing on T-shirts, caps, eco-bags, and other textile products.

I know how difficult it is for people who have also lost everything and are forced to live in unfamiliar cities. I wanted to support our Mariupol residents, bring them together in one place, and lift their spirits. We invited national artists and held one concert in Lviv, followed by another in Kyiv.

I also fulfilled my childhood dream – recording a song and performing it live on stage. This happened thanks to composer and singer Vasyl Radchenko. At one of the concerts, upon hearing my story, he offered to write a song about Mariupol. He created the lyrics, music, and arrangement, and I performed it.