July 20

The story of Natalia Zarytska, the wife of a soldier in the Azov regiment, who is currently in Russian captivity.

“On the first day of the full-scale invasion, my husband was already in Mariupol on duty. In the morning we usually text on my way to work, between 7:50 and 8:20, and ask how the other is doing. But that day he texted me at 5 in the morning: “Baby, hello, this is war”.

For the first 3-4 days of the war, communication with my husband was normal. At the time, Kyiv suffered even more than Mariupol. Later, cell service began to disappear. My husband warned me about it, and I knew it was possible.

Since he has been in the military for a long time, we have a habit of writing in a diary format. Before the messages, we write the date and time. When the connection appeared, 100-200 messages came at a time, and we learned how each of us lived for a few days.

Sometimes he called me, but I didn’t hear anything because of the heavy bombing in the background. There was a constant hum. If anyone wants to know what hell sounds like, this is what I heard on the phone.

On May 17 he wrote me two terrible letters. He wrote that in the platoon in which he served, 24 of the 32 men were killed. 17 of those 24 were killed in one moment. The occupiers used phosphorus bombs.

My husband said that Russia could drop 500 heavy air bombs and 40 missiles on Azovstal and destroy them in just a few hours. But apparently, Russia takes some pleasure in prolonging the torture.

He also said that the wide resonance does play a role. Russians use the methods of the Middle Ages: they tortured and destroyed people, use prohibited types of weapons, and call the war a special operation.

But they don’t realize this is the digital age, and the evidence base is irrefutable. The next generations will definitely know about these crimes, they cannot be hidden in the archives of the KGB. We need resonance, the whole world must know about Russian war crimes,” she concluded.

Natalia’s husband has been in Russian captivity for two months, and there is still no connection with him. His mother couldn’t bear this news and died with her son still in captivity. Natalia and other wives and mothers of Ukrainian defenders are waiting and hoping for the best.

The full interview is here: https://bit.ly/3RKhaRf

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