"Every morning we got up and we still wake up with positive thoughts about seeing Dima. I believe we will meet, I even arranged with friends that when he returns, we will have a huge dinner for him," said Daria Yurchenko, the sister of Ukrainian prisoner Dmitry Kuzetsky, who was among Defenders of Mariupol and the factory "Azobestal" in its area.
The factory was the last stronghold of the Mariupol defenders.
The battle for the city, which had been systematically destroyed by the Russian army, lasted for more than 80 days.
Its defenders - a Marine unit, the Border Guard, a special unit of the police and a "moss" regiment of the National Guard - delayed Russian progress, but were forced to retreat to the fortified factory.
For a little over a month they suffered massive bombardments from the air, sea and land, and occasionally appeared on operations above the surface, but the situation only got worse.
"Suddenly Dima called"
When the efforts to rescue them to a third country were blocked, the parties under the auspices of the United Nations and the Red Cross agreed to evacuate the factory. "Azobtsal," was among the last to come out of it.
"In the first two days of captivity, there was no information at all," Daria (18) tells Israel Today, "but on the third day, Dima suddenly called his mother. The conversation lasted about 30 seconds and he only said he was alive, taking care of himself. He said they were being fed." "And that everything was fine. We were shocked to hear him."
He told where he was?
"No, nor did we get into questions. He sounded very tired."
Is anyone in the Kiev government in touch with you? Updating you what's going on?
"We are not given any information, not even to the other parents. But we did get confirmation from the Red Cross that he was alive."
The lack of information in the two weeks since the beginning of the captivity has been compounded by calls by Russian lawmakers not to include "moss" fighters in prisoner exchange deals, while in the "Donetsk Republic" there have even been hints as to their possible execution.
Fighter in "Asobstal" under a beam of light, Photo: Dmitry Kuzetsky
"I came across these things in groups on the telegram," says Daria, who lives in Kiev. "I also went to a Russian website to see what they were writing about. Praying for his return. "
He himself did not fear captivity?
"Look, when he said he had food left for five days, then we no longer know which is better. We had a chance to talk to him a few days before he left the factory. We talked for four or five minutes, most of our questions were general. We decided in the family not to burden him. When he returns.
"I managed to talk to him about making the shirts with the photo he did (a subsoil fighter standing in a ray of sunshine; db).
I want thousands of people to get him wearing shirts. "
Suppose Dima calls you now. What would you tell him?
"Wow, I was very happy. I would say I really like him, and it seems to me that Dima would talk a lot more than I do. I would ask him if he eats, how they are treated, but I would tell him thousands of times that I love him."
Do you believe you will meet?
"Yes, of course. When he was in Sobstal, he told his mother in one of the conversations that he really misses 'Pasky' (Easter cake; db).
Easter is over, but Mom is ready to bake every day.
In general, imagine how hungry he is: a healthy man who ate five tablespoons of oats every day and drank non-drinking water.
So yes, we have thousands of plans.
Just let him come back. "
Over the weekend it became known that Kozecki's photographs won the Polish Grand Press Photo Award for 2022.
But perhaps the happier news was in a statement from Ukrainian Interior Minister Dennis Munstyrsky, who told local television: "Our intelligence personnel are keeping in touch with 'Moss' prisoners, they are getting updates on their situation. We are doing everything we can to get them released."
"We will attack new targets"
Meanwhile, the Russian news agency TAS reported yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned yesterday that his country would escalate its attacks on Ukraine if the US handed over long-range missile systems to Kyiv.
"If the systems are delivered, we will draw the necessary conclusions, use our weapons from which we have enough, and attack targets we have not yet attacked," Putin said in response to a report from reporters.
Participated in the preparation of the article: Neta Bar
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