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Stories that you confided to us

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Valentina Pokatilova

“On March 18, at 2:00 a.m., an air bomb hit the corner of the house. All the walls of the apartment collapsed. We were sleeping”

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Valentyna Pokatilova and her husband are doctors. They lived near Azovstal. 

“So many wounded people had been coming since the day one. People were trying to get water. They came under fire. They had lacerations that looked like burns. People brought us their medicines. And we tried to save them,” says Valentyna Pokatilova, a resident of Mariupol and a doctor. 

As long as there was cell signal, children asked their parents to leave the city. But it was unclear where to go. A tank was driving by the house. Airplanes were also raining civilians in Mariupol with bombs. Valentyna’s house was shelled on March 18, at 2:00 a.m. The family was sleeping. 

“I was wearing a fur coat with a hood. I managed to ask my husband, ‘Are you alive?’ – ‘Yes, I’m alive.’ We ran to the basement. It was crowded. The air was heavy. We stayed there until 5:00 a.m. We have an electric car. So, we decided that if the battery was not dead, we would leave. We took only a bag with documents with us. We drove along the tramway tracks. There were many dead bodies on the roads, and burnt cars were everywhere,” recalls Valentyna Mykolaivna.

When quoting a story, a reference to the source – the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation – is mandatory, as follows:

The Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation https://civilvoicesmuseum.org/

Rinat Akhmetov Foundation Civilian Voices Museum
Mariupol 2022 2023 Video Civilian's stories women men moving destroyed or damaged housing wounded psychological injury shelling safety and life support health elderly (60+) internally displaced persons the first day of the war shelling of Mariupol occupation
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