09:00, 03/09/2024

8 min.976INTERVIEW

In an interview with UNIAN, Lviv volunteer Nataliya Struk told how, together with her husband Zinoviy Maksymyak, she began to evacuate the bodies of fallen soldiers from the front, what difficulties they had to overcome, and how they let human grief pass through them.

Natalya, what did you do in peaceful life, before the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine?

We were entrepreneurs. The man had his own business – he covered roofs. At first I had a shop in the market, traded, but then I went to work for a private enterprise. We have two adult sons, we had plans for the future: we wanted to build a house – our own, big, so that there would be enough space for everyone. But the great war made its corrections, all dreams were shattered. Now, until the boys return home, we will not build anything.

Your husband and sons at the front?

Yes, my husband was already at the Military Commissariat on February 25, 2022. Now the eldest son Nazar is also in the east, he is a medic, rescuing the wounded. He is a rehabilitation specialist by education, but always dreamed of being a surgeon. It didn’t work out. He went to the front as a volunteer, although he has been disabled since childhood due to hand problems. But it did not stop him. The younger son is also serving, he is 24 years old. He joined the army in November 2021, three months before the start of the invasion of the Russian Federation. All my boys are at war, and I pray for them.

Didn’t they dissuade the sons?

They cannot be refused. When they have a goal, they no longer see or hear anything. By the way, the man is the same, they must have succeeded.

Why was this type of volunteering chosen during the war?

My husband and eldest son were at Euromaidan from the first days. They helped the boys there, delivered groceries and necessary things. And when the anti-terrorist operation began, both of them went to fight. The son was 21 years old at that time.

At first, other volunteers were taken to the east, and the bodies of the dead were brought back. Someone must do it too, our Heroes must be brought home. I also traveled with them at first, I was in both Luhansk region and Donetsk region. As soon as the full-scale war began, on February 27, my husband brought the first dead boys to Lviv.

At first we didn’t have our refrigerator car, and then friends and acquaintances bought it for us. We were the only ones in western Ukraine who had our own car.

What temperature in such a refrigerator car is necessary for the transportation of bodies?

What temperature – I won’t say for sure, but it must be a freezer. If you take it now, when it’s still cold outside, you can also store it in the refrigerator. But if it’s summer, you need a freezer.

How many such cars do you have now and who are the drivers?

Five. All of them were bought with volunteer funds. But one got into an accident, the other is under repair – the engine jammed in the summer. Therefore, there are currently three in the works. The drivers are volunteers, our acquaintances, friends. They leave at any time. There are days when a car arrives in the evening, another driver gets in and drives back to the east.

To which regions do you deliver the dead?

Previously, we delivered the dead to eight regions, mostly western ones. Now there will be ten of them, because we agreed with other morgues. These are Lviv, Ternopil, Rivne, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi, Zakarpattia, Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr regions.

What does the evacuation process look like?

In the east, each brigade has its own representative who monitors the wounded and dead. They contact us, volunteers. There is an evacuation point. Volunteers go there and take away the bodies. That is, we actually take them out of the front line.

Next, we deliver to the morgue of the region where the deceased is from for an autopsy, for a forensic medical examination. The TCC notifies the relatives, they come to the morgue for identification. A DNA test is also done by each area, on the spot.

The body of the deceased is handed over to his relatives by the military. If it is a person from Lviv, for example, they are immediately taken from the morgue to the church for mourning and burial. If the deceased is from the region, the TCC takes him home.

That is, you are not in contact with your relatives?

No. We don’t even give them the phone numbers of the drivers who go. We communicate exclusively with military commissars. Well, how to communicate with parents? What to say?

It is very difficult to carry friends who have passed away. This also often happens. Sometimes it happens – you know that he is dead, but his mother is not yet. And she hopes that he is about to speak up, call, but in fact he is already gone. You have to suffocate this unbearable pain and move on, because there is no other way. Someone needs to do it.

The most difficult case we had was when a boy whom my husband knew from the Maidan died. Moreover, the day before they talked, drank coffee, and in the morning it turned out that he had died. Then he took him home to his mother, and did not know what to say to her. It was very difficult.

In your opinion, what is the most difficult thing in such a job?

The most difficult thing is to take out the bodies of children – 18-20-year-old boys. I don’t know at all why they are taken to the army, even for a contract. It is too much for such children to die. For us it is pain.

How do you let so much human grief pass through you?

Very difficult. And my husband is very secretive, he doesn’t like to talk much. Everything passes through him, he cries a lot in his soul. It’s not good that he keeps everything to himself. But this is such a character and you can’t do anything about it. He also has awards, even from Valery Zaluzhny (Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2021-2024), – UNIAN), but he really doesn’t like to talk about it.

Tell me, are there any difficulties when transporting bodies?

The first six months were difficult – there was a lack of cars and fuel. Now there are no special difficulties, except for cars breaking down. Once, when we were driving, there was an “arrival” nearby, and the explosive wave almost overturned the car.

Usually, people on the road, on the contrary, help – someone will treat you to coffee, someone will feed you in a cafe for free, someone will offer to refuel. In short, those who care help. You know, there are people and there are people who have stopped fearing God.

But help more? How much do you pay for evacuation?

The state gives us diesel fuel, and repairs are at our expense. We collect by people, if it is a small repair – we do it with our own money, if something is more expensive – we have to ask.

Now we are collecting money for a new car. The one that was involved in a road accident on February 26 in Lviv Oblast is completely broken and cannot be repaired. You will have to buy a new one. This is our second accident. The first was in 2019 in Vinnytsia. Then they also collected money for repairs. Someone helped, someone called us fraudsters, but we don’t care.

In general, in the beginning, we tried to collect through various charitable foundations and organizations, but this money did not reach us. So now we do everything ourselves. When my husband realizes that someone is using him for their own purposes, he will no longer communicate with those people.

Last year, there was a case in Zhytomyr Region when the body of another soldier was brought to relatives for burial. His relatives then searched for him on their own. It turned out that he was in the morgue under the name of his brother. Why do you think these mistakes happen? Was this not the case during your evacuations?

We didn’t have that. But the identification procedure is very complicated. Even if the dead soldier has documents with him, you still can’t just take the body from the field and bring it back. It is necessary to carry out an examination. Each body is photographed and entered into the database. Each dead person is described and they see who will be taken where.

I don’t know what caused the incident with the deceased from Zhytomyr region, but no one has ruled out the human factor. Therefore, everything is possible.

How much time, on average, does it take to evacuate bodies to burial sites?

It is difficult to answer clearly. There are many factors on which it depends – the road, conducting a forensic medical examination, DNA test, etc. But the car comes every day.

Are there any government services engaged in evacuating the dead, or is this mission entrusted exclusively to volunteers?

No, there is “Evacuation 200” from the Armed Forces, now it is called “On the Shield”.

And are there many volunteers in Ukraine who take up such a task?

We were the first with our own cars. But now there are already many people like us. Everyone has their own region. As I said, we cover ten areas. Center, south, north – others work there.

Do you have any statistics on how many bodies you transport in a day or a month?

There are statistics, but it is impossible to disclose them, because this can lead to criminal liability.

Myroslava Bzikadze

(C)UNIAN 2024