“We were buried under rubble in the basement. My son, my wife, my mother,” Aleksey told Sky News. I used a crowbar to pierce a brick wall. It was a miracle we went out. Aleksey and his family were hiding in a dark cellar on the outskirts of Mariupol when Russian shells destroyed the house above them, trapping them below. Picture: Aleksey stands in his car, which he sees as a true hero and calls him a “bride of war” They had moved there from their high-rise apartment in the Cheryomushki area of Mariupol, hoping it would be safer from the fighting. They were wrong. Frozen, wearing only underwear and whatever else they could grab, the family was released and jumped into the saloon of their Soviet-era car. Shells landed all around them as they ran through the black field. It was the beginning of the war. They headed to the Primorskiy area of the city, where they thought they would be safe. The next day, Aleksey, a former submarine engineer who now repairs cars to make a living, returned to his neighborhood and found scenes of utter destruction. Buildings caught fire. Injured citizens were walking around dizzy. “These poor people: the wounded, the desperate people, walking the streets,” he said. “I am a human being, I am a man. “I knew I had to save them.” He had gone there to find warm clothes. But they were people he brought back. These few strangers were the first of 180 civilians that Aleksey would go to rescue from Mariupol. At first he moved them from besieged parts of the city to safer areas. But as the fighting spread, he began helping people to leave the city altogether. Image: Aleksey says the car was damaged by debris during trips to Mariupol Mariupol has been devastated by Russian bombing since the early days of the war, trapping those with little or no access to food and water. About 5,000 people are believed to have been killed, according to the city council. Hundreds of thousands are estimated to have fled. And everyday civilians like Aleksey are the only hope of rescuing some people. He first took those rescued to stay near the train station in the Primorskiy area, where he and his family had taken refuge. But when airstrikes began to fall in the city center, Aleksey realized that nowhere in Mariupol was it safe. “I saw a stream of cars running out of town and I told my family, let’s get in the car, let’s leave it all behind and leave this city,” he said. The family gathered in his car and hurried across Primorskiy Avenue, with the incessant blow of the shells around them as they crawled through the rubble. “It simply came to our notice then. We drove around a bomb crater. We continued to drive. “I saw people who had stopped and begged for help,” he said. “Even though our car was almost full, we picked up these people.” As they approached the outskirts of the city, they were joined by a convoy heading for a road they had been told was a humanitarian corridor. Suddenly they heard the thunderous crash of Grad missiles falling on the field next to them. They do not know where or from whom the rockets came from – but some of those on board were hit. “We stopped. We were shocked and did not know what to do,” he said. “I had 15-20 seconds to decide if we would drive through these explosions or return to the city. “I thought, either we die here or there. And I said, let’s move on. And we got rid of this hell.” Five of the escort cars, including Aleksey, arrived in a village where many others who had escaped from Mariupol were taking refuge. Some of the escort cars never made it. When he arrived in that village, Aleksey made another choice. “I remember the words of a great man, Winston Churchill: ‘War is when innocent people die in the interests of others,’” he said. “And I remember my grandfather’s words: ‘Better to die than live your whole life in fear.’ “I have decided that, under these shells, under these Grad missiles, alive or dead, I will continue to save our innocent people.” In the village there was a boarding school where the children were cared for by parents, family friends and volunteers. But some parents were still stuck in Mariupol. They had sent their children to safety without them and there was not enough space in the cars for them all to go together. “A lot of relatives asked me to go there and get their parents and others to specific addresses,” Aleksey said. “I filled the car with food and went to the addresses without knowing if the building would be intact or destroyed. “If the building was intact, I would run to the backyard and shout. I did it quickly, before shells fell on me and the people who ran outside answering my calls, I put them in the car and drove them back. “I have changed the wheels in the car five times now. They were cut into slices of shrapnel, glass. Nine people can fit in this living room. Can you imagine that? “ News soon spread that Aleksey could help people leave Mariupol, and he began receiving calls from desperate relatives throughout Ukraine, even in Poland and Germany. People started giving him money to help them, which he uses to buy fuel and repair any damage to his car from shrapnel and debris. Picture: Aleksey fills his car with supplies to bring to those in need Aleksey and his family now live with relatives in another city. While his internet connection and phone signal mean he can better coordinate his rescues, he now drives eight hours through 26 Russian checkpoints to reach those he helps. And he still goes to Mariupol as often as he can, filling his car with food, water and other vital supplies to take with him. Alexei’s wife, Eleni, says she worries about him every time he comes back to help people. “But perhaps thanks to his courage and his ‘do or-die’ attitude, our family managed to survive and get out of this nightmare.” he told Sky News. “And now he continues to help the same ordinary families like ours get out of this hell.” he said. But access to the city becomes more difficult. Aleksey slept in his car for two days, waiting for the road to the city to open on his last trip. In the end, he had to go back. However, he managed to deliver supplies to those who had taken refuge in the village outside the city. There is a fairy tale that the Slavs of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus read to their children. It’s the story of Grandpa Mazay, the story in which an elderly hunter rescues a group of hares trapped by the rising floodwaters and takes them to safety in his rowing boat. “After bringing many children and their parents to a safe place, I learned that they were jokingly calling me Grandpa Mazay,” he said. “They say, ‘As long as Grandpa Mazay’s car runs, we will stay alive.’ Image: Aleksey says the car was damaged by debris during trips to Mariupol An enthusiastic engine, it is clear that Aleksey sees his car as the true hero in this story. He smiles proudly as he points towards him in a video he sent to Sky News. “This is me, my war bride,” she says. “All these rescues are possible thanks to this vehicle. “I think that when the war is over, I will buy the best air freshener for my car, I will wax it everywhere. “I will put it in the garage and say: rest my love. “You have saved so many children.”
