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ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — As the buses from Mariupol arrived one after the other, the shocked passengers inside looked exhausted. Hardly any of them spoke when the doors opened.
Her escape from the devastated Ukrainian city that Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory over on Thursday, despite his advisors acknowledging that thousands of Ukrainian fighters were still there, felt like “a miracle,” a woman said.
“They destroyed everything,” another nodded quietly.
“Honour to Ukraine,” shouted one teenager.
The convoy of vehicles, the first to be granted safe passage by Russia in almost two weeks, was expected to include dozens of vehicles. So only four buses arrived in the southeastern city of Zaporizhia, 140 Miles north of Mariupol, the rest were stopped by Russian checkpoints along the route by nightfall, officials said.
A trickle of private cars had made it, too.
“Anything you see during the day, when people aren’t allowed out, when buses aren’t running and there’s no evacuation, is a violation of Russia’s guarantees,” said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, who accepted the buses several hours after missiles had landed on the outskirts.
The humanitarian corridor is the latest in a series of attempts discussed by Ukraine and Russia to evacuate civilians from Mariupol. Other agreements have failed due to mistrust.
The victory in the city would be Russia’s most significant in this war to date. The port city is crucial to Russia’s hopes of forming an uninterrupted land corridor stretching from the eastern Donbass region bordering Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
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On Thursday, the escaped civilians came with horror stories about the brutal tactics used by Russian forces. They said relentless shelling lit up the sky as Russian soldiers went from house to house in search of perceived enemies. Families lived underground and subsisted on dried noodles or raw grain. Even trying to find water could mean death from above.
“The ground was shaking,” said Ruslana, sitting next to her daughter as she ate her first real meal in weeks – fresh bread and compote – at the Zaporizhia reception center.
Like other civilians interviewed, she did not give her last name out of concern for her family’s safety.
“The most frightening thing was that when you went out into the street, you saw that nobody was allowed to collect the bodies,” she said, eyes wide. “Many buildings were on fire. We know many families have been burned alive.”
When the first bus opened its doors in Zaporizhia, many families just sat and waited, as if struggling to realize they were safe. Some children sat painfully still. They silently stared at the Ukrainian police and volunteers who registered their arrival.
Outside a nearby yellow bus, other families wept over each other as reporters questioned the conditions on which they escaped. “There was no light, there was no water,” cried a woman. “It was hell,” said another.
An older woman closed her eyes and just looked lost in the chaos. She hung her head and tears stood on her cheeks.
In a rare televised session broadcast on Thursday, Putin addressed Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and told him that “the work of the armed forces to liberate Mariupol was a success. Congratulations.”
He added that he had “cancelled” plans to storm the plant and violently evict the remaining Ukrainians, who for days have resisted Russia’s demands for surrender.
But a deputy commander of the last remaining forces fighting for Ukraine in Mariupol said Thursday his troops fought on even as Russian officials claimed victory.
Mariupol fighters “die underground” at the steel mill, the commander says
Svyatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Battalion, a nationalist group that is part of Ukraine’s National Guard, said of the Azov Iron and Steel Works – where his troops and the 36th “continued to defend themselves”.
Palamar was able to communicate with freelance journalist Khrystyna Bondarenko via satellite messages with the Washington Post, and he painted a picture that contradicted Russian claims of victory.
He said Ukrainian fighters in Azovstal repelled a Russian advance and damaged Russian military vehicles.
“We’re in Mariupol…so as long as we’re here, nobody has given up on Mariupol,” Palamar said, although he admitted they were running out of strength and had to be evacuated.
Palamar said Russian forces tried for two days but ultimately failed to storm Azovstal. He said Ukrainian fighters destroyed three Russian tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, an infantry fighting vehicle “and lots of infantry”. “The enemy was unable to take Azovstal by storm,” he said. “Right now this is the situation.”
While Putin may have ordered his troops not to enter the plant, Russian forces are still shelling it, Palamar said.
Ukraine’s presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych said Thursday that Russian claims of a victory in Mariupol were premature. “You cannot take Azovstal physically, you understand; They suffered huge casualties there,” he said.
Shoigu, Russia’s defense chief, on Thursday estimated there were about 2,000 troops in Azovstal, while Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said there were about 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers – and called for “an urgent humanitarian corridor”. to get them out .
Palamar said the civilians asked for guarantees of their safety before agreeing to leave the facility. He called on “the whole world to support our President and our politicians to guarantee safe exit for civilians, remove the wounded and dead, and evacuate the garrison defending Mariupol.”
The 204 civilians who arrived from Mariupol on Thursday emerged from what felt like a black hole. In her hometown, the cell phone signal was disrupted or cut off by damage to nearby infrastructure.
Many of the families still could not tell their loved ones that they had survived.
At the reception center, they waited anxiously for their phones to be charged. Nadia, a mother of three, had only just learned that her son had survived. But there were others that were not considered.
“I haven’t spoken to my mother since March 1,” she said. “We don’t know anyone who has heard of her.”
For many who arrived on Thursday, it was the first time they had been able to describe their ordeal to outsiders. Her voice low with exhaustion, 75-year-old Iryna said her home had been destroyed. “I’m homeless now,” she says. “Everything was reduced to rubble and ashes.”
“It was very scary, all those gunshots and explosions. I was so scared my legs couldn’t carry me and they still barely can.” She looked down at the kibble in front of her. “Now I’m calm, I don’t even want to eat,” she said, and started to cry.
“It’s good that I’m home now.”
Stern reported from Mukachevo, Ukraine. Eugene Lakatosh in Zaporizhzhia and Mary Ilyushina in Riga, Latvia contributed to this report.