Ruslana Volynska has not seen her husband, Serhiy, in more than three months. He left for a rotation before the war and is now among the Ukrainian troops trapped at the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol. In her first interview with any news organization, the wife of Ukrainian Marine commander Serhiy Volynsky tells VOA about her fears for her husband and she shares what she knows about survival at the plant, how often he gets in touch, and why, for Serhiy and his comrades, every minute is worth a human life. She asked that her location not be disclosed for security reasons.
Voice of America: Ruslana, we are talking when it's already late evening in Ukraine. Has Serhiy been in touch today?
Ruslana Volynska: No, he hasn’t. Not yet. I keep waiting for him to write. I must be online all the time to keep track of his appearance. It happens that he does not get in touch for 3-4 days. It's hard to describe what I feel. My thoughts now are only around the news from Mariupol, about whether he is alive and well. Sometimes he just sends a “plus sign” and that’s it, without details. And I breathe out for a certain period, until the next message.
VOA: And is there an opportunity to talk to him?
RV: It could be once every two weeks, for a couple of seconds. He calls to hear me, the voice of our son. And that's it.
VOA: Does he say anything about the situation in Azovstal?
RV: No, almost everything I learn from the news. Journalists keep asking me whether I know any details of what is happening at Azovstal from him. But no, he simply says I am alive, I am well, everything is in order. And only from other sources do I learn how difficult the situation is. There are many wounded, many seriously wounded, dead. Food and water shortage. At the moment, I honestly don't know what they eat and how many times they eat. Once a day? Once every two days?
VOA: Do you keep in touch with other Marine relatives?
RV: Yes, but our communication is reduced to a question-answer, “Has your husband contacted you? And what about yours? Yes! Oh, thank God!" So, we learn through each other that everything is alright, they are alive. One gets in touch — we ask about everyone else.
VOA: Did you talk about the possibility of a full-scale war before February 24, has Serhiy prepared you somehow? How did your morning start that day?
RV: It began, like anywhere else in Ukraine, with explosions. We woke up, heard them, and then Serhiy called with the words "Get ready, the war has begun." In general, we discussed that we should prepare for such a thing. Put documents in order, collect essential things. Roughly speaking, I have been living in the war for all eight years, because each of his deployments was a huge worry for me. And I thought that I would be mentally prepared for such a situation. But the scale turned out to be much larger than I expected.
VOA: You say he has called, so he had already been on deployment that day?
RV: Yes, he had left two weeks before the war started. I knew where he was going, and that was not the safest place to be. And in general, this situation was familiar to me, but at that time with all the news around the possible invasion I constantly asked him would something happen? And he kept answering until the beginning of the war, “Do not worry, everything will be fine, we have everything under control.” He is just such a person, he would never make me worry.
VOA: Commander Volynsky has been constantly saying since April that they already need the help of the world community.
RV: Yes, they hope for a “military extraction” procedure, when a third state will take responsibility for evacuating them on the condition that they remain on the territory of this country until the end of the war.
VOA: Such an arrangement would require that Russia be in agreement. Does Serhiy believe this is possible?
RV: When people are in a situation where every hour of life is like a year of life — when they question whether they will be alive in an hour or not — then they will hope for even the supernatural. Like, for example, the help of Elon Musk, to whom Serhiy recently appealed [via Twitter]. He, as a commander, is primarily responsible for his fighters and worries that a solution won’t be found as quickly as possible. Because the wounded become dead every day.
VOA: He made this appeal almost a month ago, and so far there is no decision ...
RV: That is why I ask [everyone from] U.S. President Joe Biden to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to the leaders of the European Union and the pope and Elon Musk: Save my husband, save the guys from Azovstal. Minutes count, and every minute is worth a human life. I would also like to appeal to people, if possible, go out, shout, spread information, so that no one forgets that there is one such place on planet Earth where it is almost impossible to survive. But the guys survive and hold on to the last of their strength. They have done a lot and they will do a lot more. For all of us, for Ukraine. You just need to get them out of there.
VOA: And what do you write to him?
RV: I always tell him that I am waiting for him. And we will make everything we dream of come true. Every time before leaving, he says, “I won’t be long, I can handle it quickly and come back.” This time “quickly” lingers on. We are waiting for him very much, we believe he will return alive and healthy. He promised.
This interview was conducted by the VOA Russian Service.
