February 17, 2025
He Was Able to Die, however To not Give up

After seven days hiding in a dank and darkish tunnel deep within the bowels of the sprawling Azovstal metal plant in Mariupol as town burned round him, Pfc. Oleksandr Ivantsov was on the breaking point.

President Volodymyr Zelensky had ordered Ukrainian troopers to put down their weapons after 80 days of resistance and give up. However Non-public Ivantsov had different concepts.

“After I signed up for this mission, I spotted that most definitely I might die,” he recalled. “I used to be able to die in battle, however morally I used to be not able to give up.”

He knew his plan would possibly sound a bit loopy, however on the time, he was satisfied he had a greater probability of surviving by hiding out than by surrendering himself to Russians, whose widespread abuse of prisoners of battle was well-known to Ukrainian troops.

So he knocked a gap in a wall to get to a small tunnel, stashed some provides and made plans to remain hidden for 10 days, hoping that the Russians who had taken management of the ruined plant would let down their guard by then, permitting him to creep via the ruins unnoticed and make his means into town he as soon as referred to as house.

However after every week, he had gone via the six cans of stewed rooster and 10 cans of sardines and virtually the entire eight 1.5 liter bottles of water he had secreted away.

“I felt very dangerous, I used to be dehydrated, and my ideas had been getting confused,” he stated. “I spotted that I needed to depart as a result of I couldn’t reside there for 3 extra days.”

Mr. Ivantsov’s account of his escape from Azovstal is supported by images and movies from town and manufacturing unit that he shared with The New York Occasions. It was verified by superior officers and by medical data documenting his therapy after he made it to Ukrainian-controlled territory. Nonetheless, his story appeared so far-fetched that Ukraine’s safety companies made him take a polygraph check to guarantee them he was not a double agent.

Mr. Ivantsov continues to be preventing for Ukraine, serving to a drone unit exterior the pulverized metropolis of Bakhmut, the place he recalled his story one sunny afternoon. He informed it reluctantly, saying he couldn’t share sure particulars with a view to shield the Ukrainian troopers from Azovstal nonetheless being held as prisoners of battle and the civilians within the occupied territories who aided in his escape.

Non-public Ivantsov, 28, was 1000’s of miles from Ukraine when Russia started its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, working as a maritime safety agent assigned to guard ships from Somali pirates on the Gulf of Aden close to the Pink Sea.

He had lived in Mariupol for eight years, he stated, when it was a metropolis on the rise. “They had been making roads, parks, an ice palace, swimming swimming pools, gyms,” he stated. On March 14, he enlisted within the Azov regiment, a former far-right militia group that had been folded into the Ukrainian army and was main the protection of the Azovstal plant.

By then, the battle for Mariupol was already securing its place as among the many most savage of the battle. Because the Russians blasted town into oblivion, 1000’s of civilians and troopers barricaded themselves inside the frilly community of bunkers beneath the plant, a fancy about twice as massive as Midtown Manhattan.

Because the Ukrainian forces grew extra determined, the army management in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, determined to mount a daring operation to fly in help throughout enemy traces. Non-public Ivantsov volunteered for the mission, figuring out he would possibly by no means return.

On March 25, in opposition to all odds, his low-flying Mi-8 helicopter eluded Russian antiaircraft batteries and landed contained in the manufacturing unit grounds, delivering desperately wanted provides to the 1000’s of Ukrainian troopers holed up there. A complete of seven flights would handle to get via within the coming weeks.

However it was not sufficient. When Non-public Ivantsov arrived at Azovstal, the troopers had no ammunition left for a lot of of their heavy weapons and had been working low on anti-tank mines and mortars. The civilians had been surviving on dwindling rations.

“There have been various very closely wounded individuals who had gangrene,” he recalled. “They had been rotting there and slowly dying.”

And day-after-day, the Russian noose round Azovstal was tightening.

On Could 16, after it was clear that the Ukrainian troopers had been now not an efficient preventing pressure, Mr. Zelensky ordered them to give up.

It will take 4 days to finish the method, giving Non-public Ivantsov loads of time to rethink his plan. However his thoughts was made up.

“I informed everybody about my choice, and earlier than they left, I shook fingers with every of them,” he stated of his compatriots, 700 of whom stay in Russian captivity. “Those that had cash gave me cash.”

On Could 20, 2022, the final Ukrainian soldier surrendered and Non-public Ivantsov went into hiding within the tunnel. Along with the meals and water he had stashed, he had some espresso, tea and sugar, in addition to a mattress and a sleeping bag.

Most vital, with Covid nonetheless a prime concern, the plant was plagued by bottles of hand sanitizer.

“It burns very properly,” he stated. “You may even cook dinner with it.”

Typically, he stated, he would simply stare on the flame. When it went out, he was in whole darkness.

“It jogged my memory of the film ‘Buried Alive,’” he stated.

As the times handed, the as soon as unceasing thunder of bombs raining down on Azovstal was changed by a disquieting silence.

By the seventh day, working low on water, he knew he needed to depart. He turned into civilian garments, ditched his weapons and ventured out into the manufacturing unit grounds. Trying up on the sky for the primary time in days, he stated, he was struck by the brilliance of the celebs.

He additionally noticed that the Russian troopers answerable for Azovstal didn’t trouble to cover their positions. “The patrols that went across the manufacturing unit used flashlights, they talked loudly,” he stated.

Non-public Ivantsov was simply capable of keep away from them, ducking beneath railroad vehicles when one got here too shut for consolation.

It took six hours, he stated, and the solar was rising when he made it into the ruined metropolis. It was onerous to place what he noticed into phrases.

“I noticed animal our bodies, human our bodies,” he stated. “There have been items of our bodies. An arm might be mendacity round, a canine might be pulling it someplace.”

Making it out of Azovstal was solely step one.

“The plan was to go to the neighborhood the place I used to reside,” Non-public Ivantsov recalled. “I assumed if I noticed acquainted faces, I might ask them for assist: to clean, eat and so forth.”

However nothing would go to plan. Town he had recognized was obliterated. Even the folks he had recognized earlier than the invasion had been like strangers. He couldn’t belief anybody.

He shortly realized that his solely hope of evading seize was to get out of town and head west to Ukrainian-controlled territory. He would nonetheless need assistance, and clearly he must watch out about whom to ask.

“I at all times appeared first to see if I might method, assess the particular person,” he stated. He wouldn’t have survived with out the kindness of strangers who helped him, usually at nice threat.

“In a single village, an previous girl gave me water from a properly to drink,” he stated. There have been others he wouldn’t talk about.

He was captured as soon as whereas nonetheless within the metropolis, he stated, refusing to reveal any additional particulars. Reaching the entrance would take him 18 days, crossing about 125 miles behind enemy traces.

By that time, his ft had been bloodied and his again and knees ached a lot that he had hassle strolling; he had misplaced greater than 25 kilos. When the second got here to cross into Ukrainian territory, he stated, he was working on pure adrenaline.

He considered crossing a river that offered a pure barrier between the forces, however deemed it too harmful. He lastly determined to simply forge forward via a closing 10 to fifteen miles overland, previous mines and different booby-traps.

“I had nerves of metal, no feelings, no ideas, simply goal and chilly calculation,” he stated. “That’s how I mentally psyched myself up. I had already come to phrases with my demise.”

However he made it, wanting wild-eyed and loopy as he struggled to persuade surprised Ukrainian troopers that his inconceivable story was true.

They finally believed him, and as he was pushed away from the entrance on his approach to Kyiv for medical care and rehabilitation, he stopped at a fuel station and acquired a espresso and a sizzling canine.

He had by no means tasted a greater sizzling canine, he stated, or sipped a greater cup of espresso.