by Lorenzo Cremonesi, sent to Zaporizhia
Svetlana Kusnitzova and her mother Olga in the refugee shelter in Zaporizhia tell Corriere: “They are well organized”
But how is it possible that after well over two months of a Russian siege, the Ukrainian fighters of Mariupol are still able to resist barricaded in the tunnels of the Avzostal Steelworks? “They are fighting well because they were well organized even before the Russian invasion started. In the days just before February 24, the military commanders of the Mariupol region, together with the selected corps of marine infantry, the National Guard and the volunteers of the Azov battalion, decided to move their headquarters along with the ammunition and food reserves. directly in the more protected areas than steel mills,” explains 55-year-old Svetlana Kuznitsa, who we meet with her 85-year-old mother Olga in the refugee camp in Zaporizhia.
civilians fleeing
Two tired and frightened women join the crowd of civilians fleeing the war zones in Donbass and around Mariupol. Now they share everyone’s problems: finding a shelter for the night, clean clothes, communicating with relatives, understanding what will become of them. Olga cries and shows the photo of the ruins of her beautiful villa that was destroyed by the bombs. Junk, broken tiles, cinder blocks and dust: they clash with photos from just four months ago, when they organized a sumptuous dinner for relatives and friends under the porch in the garden. Now they are refugees in their country, but their mixed pain is obvious at first glance: they come from one of the important families of Mariupol and are happy to help answer our questions even in the chaos of the reception center. By the way, Svetlana is well acquainted with the mayor and some of the local industrialists who helped manage the city’s affairs.
Visit
“Around February 16, President Zelenskyy came to the city on an official visit. It was obvious that he wanted to understand how it was defended: he met the military contingents, visited the trenches at the front, right in front of the Russian ones. My friends at the town hall told me immediately afterwards that among the people interviewed was the famous oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, who among other things controls the Azov valley, and it was he who gave the green light to convert the steel mill into a fortress. , told. His statement is also in line with the political development of Akhmetov, who was known in the past for his pro-Russian positions, which started to change after the first Donbass war in 2014. This did not prevent him from having strong personal differences with Zelenskyy until last December, only to publicly side with the patriotic resistance and declare that his steel mills would never operate under Moscow control.
water reserves
Svetlana also explains that there are still water reserves in the steelworks that are used to cool the blast furnaces. As for the civilian refugees among the militants, they would be of different origins: a first core consists of some family members of the factory workers who stayed even after the battle began, as well as women and children of some Azov volunteers and a group of residents of the Livaberejne district, which is right in front of the complex. Olga and Svetlana were too attached to their home to think of giving it up. “Honestly, we never thought what we saw could happen. We felt safe and then we didn’t hurt anyone,” they admit. And when they realize the mistake, it’s too late. Svetlana will personally bury five neighbors on the opposite sidewalk
April 29, 2022 (Change April 29, 2022 | 21:59)
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