He lost his home twice, but not his faith in victory. Volodymyr Vdovenko is one of those who went through the hellish battles of Mariupol. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he served as assistant boat Commander First Rank, but eventually got moved to the Infantry when the fight for Ukraine required so. He got credit for shooting down a hostile Su-25 ground attack aircraft. For the sake of preventing the enemy to reach Mariupol, where his wife and kids were staying, he was ready to die with a grenade in his hand. His comrades did not let him do so. Volodymyr found himself on the verge of life and death during a tank assault.
Then the battle of Azovstal followed. Three months without light, without medications, in a dungeon that became a hallmark of Ukrainian invincibility. Then he got into Russian captivity. The Russians sent him back to where it all began: to his hometown, which was already under occupation. Today, Volodymyr Vdovenko continues his service with the Maritime Guard.
In this interview of the series “Victory Commanders”, Ukrinform invited Mr. Volodymyr for a talk about his personal history, his experience defending Azovstal, about Russian propaganda, captivity, his return to Ukraine and more."
- You have travelled an extremely difficult path. You lost your home twice in 2014 and 2022, passed through the battles of Mariupol and Azovstal, and through Russian captivity. How do you assess this experience? How has it changed you?
- I would not advise this experience to anyone. It was the most difficult in Mariupol: it is difficult to watch your family suffering under Russian bombings, watch your neighbors, that is, civilians, suffering. When defending Azovstal, I had got through a catharsis, had reviewed all my values.
- What is it - a sea front? What are the biggest threats there?
- The sea can be regarded as a full-fledge line of contact, that is, this is war for coast anyway. Successes at sea are temporary. You can have maritime superiority at one time, but lose this superiority at other times, and it will melt like snow in your hands. In other words, there is nowhere to hide in the sea, you can’t hide in a trench, for example. When in the open sea, you are always at risk of being attacked and hit by an enemy missile, especially now as missile technologies have advanced so far and fast, and this poses continuous threats to the crew and other personnel.
- Why did you decide to connect your life with this particular field? How was it?
- In 2014, after losing my home, I travelled to Mariupol, where I studied, and chose not to stay aloof from the developments that were taking place in our country. So I signed a contract with the State Border Guard Service. I was offered several positions to choose from. I believed that the maritime border was the most vulnerable -- Crimea had already been lost at the time, a lot of equipment deployed there was captured by Russian invaders. I thought my being there, my skills and knowledge could be helpful in some way. So, I joined the ranks of the Maritime Guard. I was assigned to a boat, served as part of the crew; I learned a lot there and was able to prove my worth.
- Until 2022, you patrolled the Sea of Azov. You said in one of your interviews: "I always keep my weapons ready." And this was before the full-scale invasion. Did you feel the growing threat of a big war at the time?
- Russian provocations continually took place in Mariupol, because the so-called DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) fleet was deployed nearby. And we were tasked to prevent armed formations landing to the coast up there and weapons to be delivered to Mariupol for use in terrorist attacks. We handled this task well. Needless to say, there were continuous Russian provocations. We saw them many times from ships, from maritime guard boats, and from civilian vessels. They constantly turned up on our coast, and we had to drive them away without using weapons.
- Was it because they would otherwise blame us should you have used weapons?
- Yes. We tried to do our job while at the same time avoiding an escalation.
- Do you remember your first battle?
- The first hours were an absolute shock. No one could understand how to act further, how developments would unfold. But these 2–3 hours of shock charged us for fruitful cooperation. Then we began to arm ourselves to the maximum extent possible, to prepare for battles in the city as news were coming in that the enemy was heading from Crimea towards Berdyansk. And while we were preparing, strengthening our positions as best as we could, the enemy reached Mariupol two days later, was as close as two or three kilometers from it. That was when battles for the city began.
From the first days, we were sent to fight as ordinary infantry, since there was already no point in boats and ships going out to sea. Our task was to prevent the enemy from entering the port. My comrades and I were holding defensive positions on the western outskirts of Mariupol. The enemy availed of the situation that the western part of the city was not fortified in any way, that is, there were no trenches or fortified areas out there, since during the JFO/ATO operation the fortifications were concentrated in the eastern part of the city.
The first battles were waged precisely in the area we were defending. At first, there were fire bombings, a tank pounded our positions. We had nothing but small arms, did not have anti-tank weapons or missile systems, we were just infantry. On March 2, when we came under tank fire, Maksym Matsevik, a subordinate of mine, sustained severe shrapnel wounds in the leg, arm, and torso. It was very difficult, and this was the first trigger that will never cease hurting me.
- What position did you hold back then?
- Assistant boat Commander First Rank. My boat was undergoing repairs, so I understood that I had to do something, be helpful in some way. So, I volunteered to go defend the positions in the city as part of the Infantry.
- Your family was staying in the city at the time. How did they endure it?
- My family was not in the same part of the city where I was. I managed to go and see them once during the days of fighting. I told my wife to leave the city, because the fighting would continue and become more intense and brutal. I insisted that they move out of town to Ukrainian controlled territory, or perhaps to a foreign country. As long as they were staying in the city, I was in the positions, in the battles, saw civilians suffering from bombing attacks, and I thought that, perhaps, my family too was experiencing this. It was very difficult. One day after March 24, my wife was able to send me a message (there was still a connection in nine-story buildings, perhaps from neighboring villages) that they had left Mariupol. It was such a huge weight off my mind, and I, it may be said, fully immersed into what was going on around me.
- You shot down a Russian Su-25 ground attack aircraft. How did it happen, what did you feel at that moment?
- Not shot down actually, but hit it. Unfortunately, it did not explode, neither did it fall, but flew towards the Krasnodar Krai region of Russia. The emotion of me being able to lock on the target and launch a missile at it was that of joy. But after the impact, I saw that the airplane continued on the flight, and I was a little offended by that fact.
- But that airplane never took off again, didn’t it?
- Later in the day, the guys showed me a video of it landing in place. Hopefully, it was that same plane, at least it looked like that. And on the right side, its fuselage, wings, and tail were badly damaged, and I was said that it would never be airworthy any more. Well, I did contribute to this in some way.
- During the battles of Mariupol, you sustained wounds. How did that happen?
- There was a residential area named Cheremushki in the southwestern part of the city. And during the battles, heavy tank shelling began in the area. From the front room, where I was staying (on the third floor), I moved to the back room to be away from the shelling. But a shell flew right into the room where I had just been, and the blast wave pushed me out of the third-floor window. I fell onto the concrete, suffered multiple fractures: pelvis, lumbar spine, plus shrapnel wounds in the leg. My comrades saved me. It seemed to me that a few seconds had passed, but my comrades said that 5–10 minutes passed before they ran up to me and were able to pull me to a safe place.
- What did you think at that moment when your life was hanging in the balance?
- I didn’t get what had happened, I just saw the sky, the ground... And then my comrades immediately ran up. It was after I got wounded when the pain and a realization of what had happened came. I started thinking more about life when already at Azovstal. What will happen next, how will it continue? When not only you are wounded yourself, but also see the wounded around you, speak to them, how it happened, where, you start rethinking everything that is.
- What happened at Azovstal? How did you feel about it?
- I saw my comrades wounded, mutilated, dead, it was very hard. It is out there, in an underground hospital, where you understand what war is like. War is blood, tears, broken lives, someone lost their life.
- Were there moments of humanity, brotherhood that impressed you most?
- Yes, indeed. After sustaining wounds, I was taken to a nearby position in a safer area. When we got there, I told the guys to give me grenades and I will provide covering fire while they move to a safer position. But they replied: You are stupid or what? And they took all my weapons away from me. Two National Guard soldiers took me by the arms and carried me to the evacuation zone, from where I was brought to the first medical evacuation station, where they were able to stabilize my condition. They gave me painkillers and a corset for the pelvic girdle to keep the bones together. Afterwards, I was waiting long to be taken to Azovstal. And it did not happen until we moved, in a long convoy of vehicles, from the central part of the city to Azovstal. Luky for me that a comrade of mine was able to pull me out of a stuck vehicle and throw me into a pickup truck that was just passing by. I got to Azovstal in the pickup truck. And after that, I was transferred to an underground hospital, where I saw probably the most terrible thing that could happen in war.
For example, you are brought your meal at the scheduled time, and at this same time doctors who performed surgeries around the clock are cutting off someone's leg to save his life. And I am sitting hungry, this meal waiting for me, and don't know what to do: eat or wait. Also, during the fighting in the city proper - what happened to the civilian population are war crimes committed by the Russian Federation. They shelled residential buildings with artillery, the buildings where no military personnel were staying. We were deployed on the outskirts of the city, and they were shooting from behind us, targeting nine-story civilian buildings, which then burned down with the people inside. It's very terrible.
- What was your attitude when you were ordered to withdraw from Azovstal and surrender to captivity?
- There was no way I could influence this decision. The city’s defense staff little by little got us prepared for this, occasionally informing us about what was happening around, where the enemy was located, how much supplies were left. We ourselves saw that our ration shrank from two full meals a day to only one, consisting of a disposable cup of porridge and a small piece of lard, and that was a ration for a full day. We saw that the drinking water ran out, that only yellowish water left. It even got to the point where the water had to be taken from the heating system. We saw that we were no longer able to continue fighting. I think, the defense staff understood this too, reported this upstairs through the chain of command, and from there came the order [to withdraw].
- How did developments unfold for you?
- On the first day, I was the second or third to be evacuated on a stretcher from Azovstal. Afterwards, they (the Russians) took us to my hometown of Novoazovsk in the Donetsk region, which had been under occupation since 2014. That was how I, again, found myself in my little homeland. We spent one day, rather, not even a full day, but a night out there, and then were taken to a hospital in Donetsk city. It was a civilian hospital, from which all the civilian patients were taken out or redistributed elsewhere. And they made it into a military hospital. We were there alongside those whom we ourselves sent there -- the Russian military personnel, members of the DPR army. That is, here is our ward, and there, next to it on both sides, were those whom we sent there. And they set a guard post so that no one would break into our ward and commit lynching. It was hard in a hostile environment, because they were persistently trying to pressure us morally. They would turn on their anthem for us, were telling us that we were not needed, that they had already seized Kharkiv and Kherson, and were close to capturing Odesa, and so on and so forth. Such was their propaganda.
The doctors didn’t let us die, but at the same time they said: we’re doing this not because we sympathize with you, but because we have to. And many of the guys stayed alive because of that. But they there didn’t treat us actually. Lots of the guys who were released from captivity alongside me during a prisoner swap were in need of surgical care. And they were not operated until after they got to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.
- You said that, while in captivity, you were subject to moral pressure, to propaganda on the part of the enemy. What do you think helped you endure this all?
- I had already built up a perception in my head about what they would do to me. And that’s roughly how it happened. They were pressuring me into telling them something about my comrades, something to which they could cling. They had in mind to accuse us of shelling civilians, pin all the civilian casualties on us. But all their accusations were in vain.
Later on, Russian journalists came and offered a guy who was in the same hospital ward as me, one from the Azov Regiment, a permission to call his mother in exchange for an interview for a Russian TV channel. He gave them the interview, and I saw with my own eyes how propaganda works. That is, he said absolutely true facts, but after they edited it, cut out something from somewhere, changed places, it turned out that this guy was to be blamed for everything that happened in Mariupol. For example, when he got wounded, it was purportedly agreed among the guys that they would not be a burden to each other, and if necessary, would just finish off the one with the least chances of surviving. That didn't happen like that, because the actual fact was that his comrades saved his life. Well, they cut out true facts, portraited the Azov soldiers as members of a criminal gang and torturers who even don’t stop short of killing their own comrades.
And here's another episode: when this guy got to Azovstal, he had a surgery on his arm, and he asked the doctors only one thing: save his arm. The Russians edited this in such a way that it turned out as if he, when already in captivity, asked DPR doctors only one thing, and then they added this piece: please save my arm. And here he is in captivity with his arm in place, it was like the kind doctors from the DPR saved it for him. In reality, it wasn't like that.
- Did they at least let him call his mother?
- They did, but I feared he would be given a sentence of some kind for this interview. They were able to incite the civilian population, in Donetsk, against Ukraine to the maximum degree possible, using a diversity of different methods. We saw three Grad MLRS vehicles driving towards and parking under a window of this hospital, two firing in the westward direction toward Maryinka, and one in the eastward direction, that is toward Donetsk. But in their news reports it was being claimed that Ukraine allegedly shelled Donetsk, killed a young kid.
- So you saw this with your own eyes?
- I saw this with my own eyes. I could see the Grad rockets flying to absolutely different directions. But they believe what TV is saying them. Their TV says that it was Ukraine who fired the rockets, that it is Ukraine who is to blame for civilian deaths there. And they came and told us that we are inhuman, scoundrels.
- Were there any other violations committed by the Russians against Ukrainian military personnel in captivity, against you in particular?
- Since the time I got wounded, was staying in their hospital, they did not pressure us physically. Indeed, they took away everything they could from us, excepting first-aid kits. Needless to say, we were interrogated, but in a light form, in the form of an interview. The guys who were released from captivity as part of the following prisoner swaps were subjected to torture, to physical and moral pressure. And this has disabled them for many months to come, both physically and morally, as well as psychologically.
- Do you remember the day you learned you had been selected for an exchange?
- We were taken out for an exchange several times. The first time it was showy: we were put in beautiful cars, the TV was filming, some bloggers were running around, filming. But this was for picture only, because we were not exchanged but driven back to the hospital. That is, the picture is taken, everything is fine.
- Cinema.
- Cinema, yes. And when it came to the true exchange, a doctor came in at four in the morning and told us to get dressed. And that's it, even the personnel at the hospital were not ready for this. That is, they summoned additional people who arrived at half past four, at five in the morning to help load us onto ordinary vehicles without any special equipment installed. And so we drove out. Already in the process, I saw where we were driving to, and I understood that it was to the direction of the Zaporizhia region. That suggested they were taking us to Crimea, or to be exchanged. Well, that ultimately turned out to be for the exchange.
- What were the first minutes, hours after returning to Ukrainian soil like to you? Do you remember your first call, welcome back meeting with your family and loved ones?
- Returning to your homeland is a celebration. I heard the Ukrainian language again. The guys who smoked were each distributed a cigarette, they smoked it out, everyone were happy. Back at home finally! My family were abroad at the time. And I was able to contact them 6-7 hours after the exchange. In the evening, I called them through the Viber, saw my wife and my wife saw me, we cried with happiness, could not even find words to express what we felt. We just looked at each other and cried.
- How was your rehabilitation going after the release from captivity?
- I was not in captivity for long, just a month and a half, and I did not suffer much from it either morally or psychologically. But I did suffer physically. I was treated for the wounds at the departmental hospital of the State Border Guard Service. Then followed rehabilitation treatment, family camps organized by both charitable organizations and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. My rehabilitation treatment lasted almost a year, and still I have not fully recovered and I am unlikely to fully recover from the wounds I’ve suffered. But this is the part that is very needed by the guys who are now being released from captivity; they are in need of psychological rehabilitation even more than physical rehabilitation, given they had been in captivity for more than three years. It is very difficult to endure.
- How far effective, in your opinion, are the military-to-civilian transition assistance programs for transitioning veterans, especially those released from captivity? What else needs to be done?
- In the State Border Guard Service and the Maritime Guard in particular, there has been created a special program that provides social support for the families of dead soldiers, wounded veterans and prisoners of war. Within this program, there have been regularly organized trips, camps for psychological rehabilitation, where veterans can go to the mountains with their comrades, just get away from everything, and this is very important. I think time is the best healer. That is, guys need to be allowed time to rest, to move away from military affairs. According to the law that has been passed recently, the guys who were released from captivity are entitled to a three-month leave. They can use this time to recover, to stay with their families and decide whether to continue in military service or transit to civilian life. Lots of the guys choose to continue in service.
- Did you hesitate to return to service? Why did you return?
- Back then I did not have the opportunity to resign from service as relevant legislation had yet to be passed. But I decided for myself that I did not go back then and I will not go back now.
- What are you doing in your service at the time being?
- It’s mostly planning, since I can't perform combat missions due to my physical condition. Therefore, my commanders found a job for me, gave me the opportunity to continue in service. At the headquarters where I work now, I am primary dealing with maps and documents.
- What are the urgent issues and challenges you have to handle in this position?
- The challenges are always the same - the enemy who is about to eliminate us, eliminate the Ukrainian nation, eliminate the whole of Ukraine. We have to resist them at sea, where they enjoy superiority, while simultaneously performing our functions as the State Border Guard Service, the Maritime Guard, which are difficult to combine during martial law.
- What would you say to soldiers who are in captivity or in otherwise difficult situation?
- Fate does not smile on slaves, I would say so. That is, you have to be, feel like a master on your own land and not count on the enemy’s mercy. The enemy did not come here to show us mercy. We must continue our fight.
- What will your dreams be like after Ukraine wins this war?
- I think our win will be three-fold. First, we have preserved as a national state, preserved our statehood. The second is still in the process, we are preserving our nation, that is, preserving Ukrainians as a people. And the third victory will be when Russia collapses. That is without a doubt. And then we will take back everything belonging to us. And after that happens, I will go to my little homeland as a master, and then to Yalta, to Crimea.
- What is war for you?
- Blood, tears.
- What can you never forgive?
- Civilian deaths.
- What thought do you wake up with?
- Tomorrow will be better.
- Can a person change the course of history?
- I don’t think so.
- What’s your greatest fear in life?
- To lose my family.
- What are the best and worst days in your life?
- The birth of my children and the beginning of the war.
- What is the greatest reward for you?
- Children's smiles.
- What does independence mean to you?
- It's the opportunity to decide for ourselves, where our country can decide for itself what to do, how to do it and where to move.
Interviewed by Diana Slavinska
Photo: Kyrylo Chubotin, Ukrinform
Watch this interview in full here