Humanitarian aid!
This is the first humanitarian aid truck, we have no water or bread, nothing!
[ Yury ]These are food packages
The Nazis are still shelling us
If 'Azov' found Moscow numbers on your phone, they'd kill you
When the Nazis retreated, they'd torch everything with petrol
People are very afraid that Ukraine will return here
[ Yury ]Get the kids together, I'll give them sweets
The principle is to get everything donated in Russia
directly into the hands of those in need here in Donbass
[ Yury ]This is my 6th trip along this route
15,000 kilometres since March 8, when we first crossed the border 00:01:12.40 00:01:20.33 [ VO ]For several weeks, successful Russian entrepreneur Yury Vaganov has been moving humanitarian cargo to the people of Donbass from Moscow. 00:01:20.33 00:01:27.99 And he's been doing it at his own expense. He and a group of like-minded volunteers deliver aid to where it’s most needed in the region.
This is the 1st truck we've seen since March 5!
We have no water or bread, nothing!
We've hidden in cellars since March 5, we've only been out 2 days
[ Yury ]Take one and step away!
Some inner call wouldn't let me just ignore the tragedy
that has befallen Donbass residents
We wanted to come and do something, and so we have
Our project's main principle is to get everything donated in Russia
directly into the hands of those in need here in Donbass
without any bureaucratic red tape 00:02:12.69 00:02:18.37 [ VO ]Another aspect of Yury and his fellow volunteers work is that they locate and rescue people from the war zone.
What did you want? To find my wife and kid in Mariupol
I was delivering meds and food, whatever I could
But then they began to shell and shoot at us
- Where could they be? - I've no idea
My wife's mum said they'd been evacuated, after that I don't know
I don't know if the others were alive then, please help if you can
If they're alive, tell them to go to Oryol Region [ Russia ]
She knows where 00:02:49.82 00:02:57.50 [ VO ]Today, Mariupol can only be accessed by special missions, escorted by the military. Persistent fighting is ongoing in the city centre. 00:02:57.50 00:03:06.17 The Ukrainian neo-Nazi Azov militants have retreated to areas around the Illich and Azovstal plants, and are putting up fierce resistance.
[ Mikhail ]'Azov' came and said: 'Come to the factory bomb shelter!'
So we did, and they wouldn't let us out!
Then some managed to get out
And they said: 'We're going to die, and you will all die here with us!'
They [ Ukrainians ] fight a dirty war
A tank pulls up at a residential building and blows out the windows
It leaves after 15 minutes, planes bomb the area,
and the building's gone
If 'Azov' found Moscow numbers on your phone, they'd kill you
[ Irina ]I don't know what kind of mother gave birth to them
A child is walking, and they shoot
I can't wrap my mind around it
They're not human, they must be killed without trial!
- What were you to them? - A human shield
The last time we went out, there was a street battle about 500 metres away
We drove out of there on torn tires… on rims
Look out, look! 00:04:32.46 00:04:41.22 [ VO ]The expedition’s main objective of is to deliver food and medicine to one of Mariupol's districts, and to try and find the Kisels family, Maria and Aleksandr. 00:04:41.22 00:04:47.17 From what they understand, Alexsandr isn’t able to move around on his own. The couple must be evacuated. 00:04:51.05 00:04:56.45 We arrive and see some locals by the underground parking garage, which for many has become a real lifesaver.
We cook on a bonfire
We receive aid, thank God!
Take a look at how we live! It's been a month now, even longer 00:05:06.60 00:05:14.52 [ VO ]Even though this area has been liberated, most people are still living in basements. All the flats and houses have been destroyed or are freezing.
- How many people live here? - Nine 00:05:18.20 00:05:20.48 Water and candles - worth their weight in gold!
Oh, we are so in need of candles! Thank you so much! 00:05:25.83 00:05:34.11 [ VO ]People from Mariupol's basements and courtyards are on high alert. They see and hear everything. In minutes, a crowd gathers around the humanitarian aid truck. 00:05:38.61 00:05:45.41 The rumble of artillery increases. There’s fighting and mortar exchange in the nearby centre of Mariupol and the Azovstal plant.
[ Sofia ]I can show you how I slide down the pole
Aren't you scared? Even we are, there's gunfire
I come to play even if they shoot a lot… I don't care if they're shooting or not
[ Viktoria ]We're already used to artillery fire, it's constant
We can already tell when a shell will land here or fly by
Have you seen these people? Maybe you know them?
Not that girl
This girl is Aleksandra Pravosudova, and this is Olga Pravosudova
Hello! 00:06:29.03 00:06:32.23 [ VO ]We try several times to find the Pravosudovs - a mother and daughter.
No, we don't know them
No, they weren't in our basement 00:06:38.67 00:06:41.39 [ VO ]At the final cordon, soldiers stop us from moving on further.
Further down, at Boulevard 28, all the residents have been evacuated
We've just been told there's no one there 00:06:53.53 00:06:58.69 [ VO ]While one group distributes humanitarian aid, the other searches nearby streets for the Kisel family.
We looked at the map
He said the area isn't clear yet and may be mined 00:07:05.96 00:07:09.96 [ VO ]These special white markings denote: FRIEND. They’re to avoid getting hit by friendly fire.
Of course, there's fear
We're evacuating people from areas that were liberated just a day or two ago,
so there's a good chance we'll run into something
When you rescue someone,
there's no knowing who else might be in that house or basement…
what trip wires or other surprises you might find
- Aleksandr Kisel? - That's my husband
- Maria Nikolaevna? - That's me
- Great! We've found you - We've found you, Maria Nikolaevna
I am glad! Do you want to take us out of here? - Yes
Yes
- 2 people: bedridden and healthy - The other's not healthy, that's me
Let them through
- You have a wheelchair, right? - Yes, but he can't sit in it too long
- Hello, Aleksandr! Don't cry! - It's all over now, we'll take you away 00:08:17.14 00:08:26.82 [ VO ]Aleksandr is seriously ill with diabetes and can’t move around on his own. He couldn’t go down to the basement. Since the shelling started, he’s been living in the hallway on the third floor. 00:08:26.82 00:08:39.69 All this time, his wife Maria has been at his side. The flat below them, where a Ukrainian spotter was stationed, was completely destroyed by a direct hit from a shell. It's a miracle that Maria and Aleksandr survived.
When was the last time you were outdoors?
3 years ago 00:08:48.35 00:08:59.15 [ VO ]We take Maria and Aleksandr to a temporary accommodation centre in Bezymennoe. In the morning, family friends will take them to Taganrog in Russia. But not everyone gets so lucky. 00:08:59.15 00:09:05.02 Many people simply have nowhere to go. And they are left to build a new life in the ruins of the old one...
[ Maria ]God bless you! May you be happy and prosperous!
- I'm off, my boy needs attention - OK! Good luck!
What now?
The guys need tea bags 00:09:29.22 00:09:38.68 [ VO ]Ekaterina Martyanova is Yury's main associate and assistant in the DPR. She coordinates local volunteers who pack and ship humanitarian aid.
These are from a school drive
- Are there letters? - Yes
Let's have the letters then 00:09:49.56 00:09:54.48 [ VO ]A box of presents and a ‘letter to a soldier’ from Russian children is special humanitarian cargo. 00:09:54.48 00:10:02.79 Today, during the mission to Donbass’s remote villages, we’ll try to deliver it to the DPR militia’s frontline, bordering on the Zaporozhye Region. 00:10:07.33 00:10:17.77 Our road lies through Volnovakha. The city was heavily damaged during its liberation and the locals had foreseen that since the first days of occupation.
[ Natalya ]When the Ukrainian military entered Volnovakha,
they said if they left, they'd torch the city 'because savages live here'
but they're the savages
[ Sergey ]A tank came and fired on Volnovakha
Whose tank?
The Ukrainians'
- At what... - The Nazis'
At Volnovakha, at residential buildings
So, a tank drives into a lane, fires, turns its cannon in a random direction,
and fires off another salvo
There were no military facilities here, only civilians 00:10:58.76 00:11:05.72 [ VO ]Vladimir Zhoga, a well-known Sparta DPR Militia commander, died protecting civilians in this neighbourhood of Volnovakha. 00:11:07.11 00:11:17.99 We’re delivering food supplies. Some residents are still living in the basements. ‘Aidar’ battalion nationalists used these houses as vantage points and gun nests.
[ Maksim ]See that burnt out building? That didn't happen in combat
When retreating, the Nazis doused it with petrol, set it on fire, and left
[ Igor ]Ukrainian soldiers took the top floors
They were either snipers or spotters
A young man came out of the building,
and a Ukrainian sniper shot him right here
This is his grave
[ Aleksandr ]Tanks would drive behind the buildings, fire a bit, and come here to hide
They drove into the courtyard, those are tank tracks
They drove up to this building, and that one
They turned the tank's exhaust pipe towards us, we were suffocating
They directed exhaust at your basement?
Yes
- Deliberately? - Just ask the others!
[ Anna ]On March 3, they fell back via the centre and shot my godfather with an AK
He was smoking in the yard, they retreated and got trigger-happy
Just before they left
Yes, they were on the run, and just started shooting to kill
Since 2015, they've said, 'If we have to give up Volnovakha, we'll shoot you all'
And that's what happened
People are very afraid that Ukraine will return here 00:12:50.35 00:12:56.15 [ VO ]The road from Volnovakha is bad. It’s dangerous to drive off it or even get out of your car — there may be mines.
There are Ukrainian positions ahead, so it's not completely safe 00:13:01.96 00:13:08.96 [ VO ]Aleksandr, Ekaterina’s husband, businessman, and volunteer with the humanitarian convoys, manoeuvres watchfully and carefully.
Not a single soul
But people must live here 00:13:15.72 00:13:21.76 [ VO ]We reach a destroyed bridge. Just 2.5 kilometres ahead: the DPR militia’s frontline positions.
- Ask the others to come too - Thank you 00:13:25.32 00:13:29.32 [ VO ]Presents and letters from Russian kids will be delivered to the frontline soon enough. 00:13:30.88 00:13:36.484 We don’t stay long. Along the way, we distribute food supplies at militia checkpoints.
Hey guys!
Delivery!
- How's it going? - Everything's OK, thank you!
Thank you very much 00:13:46.53 00:13:49.21 [ VO ]At one checkpoint, there’s an unexpected encounter.
- Good day! - Hello!
- Do you recognise me? - Gosh, Vasya!
- How are you? - I'm fine
- You're a soldier! - You've been there?
We helped the guys with humanitarian aid
- I didn't expect to see you - You OK?
Have you been home?
No, not yet
- Recognise him? - With the beard? No
He bought the house
Want to say hello to your wife? Maybe a video?
No need. OK, stay strong
He owns hotels in Crimea
Amazing right? To find a successful businessman on a checkpoint
In uniform, with a rifle…
- I only knew him by his eyes - I didn't to be honest 00:14:43.63 00:14:50.63 [ VO ]Today, people in Donbass are recognised by their actions. They defend the ‘Republic’, fight in trenches, save the wounded and sick, 00:14:50.63 00:14:58.79 deliver humanitarian aid to liberated areas and frontlines… They help in any way they can, under constant stress, often risking their lives.
We have to get away fast! Really fast!
Because shells do reach here… quite often
Before the war, we had a successful business and still do, thank God
I can't complain
In 2017, I had a Lexus, an RX 350, and I drove back and forth near the front
If God gives you the chance to help, then you have to help
- You regret the car? - It's transport, just metal...
compared to other values
- Hi, everyone! - Hello!
- I've visited you before, remember? - Yes 00:15:54.84 00:16:05.24 [ VO ]The Khartsyzsk Child Care Centre houses 17 children of various ages. They mostly came from so-called dysfunctional families. Among them are those who’ve lost parents in war.
[ Yury ]We go there regularly, we visit that centre on every trip
There are children there who are in very severe emotional or physical conditions,
kids who lost parents, and who saw it happen 00:16:25.67 00:16:33.23 [ VO ]Seven-year old Dima survived shelling in Mariupol. His parents shielded him with their own bodies, and the boy miraculously survived.
[ Antonina ]Soldiers found him, he was in hospital
The kid's very scared, he blinks a lot and squeezes his eyes shut
His first words were, 'It's quiet here!
In Mariupol, there's heavy shelling'
'Here, the pillars are upright
There, they lay on the ground, trees too'
What's your dream?
To ride a motorbike
What kind?
The one my dad had
The kids think they're in a health resort for now
If they know what's happened to their parents,
they're sure their relatives will take them home
Tell me, do you really want to go home?
Yeah!
Well, Aunt Lena will take me away soon
And they might never take me home
Mum's already decided
She'll only take me away when a new life has begun
[ Yury ]Donbass children have different eyes, more mature, more depth
You've been training! Let's see who hits hardest!
I was born in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the city of Stepanakert
I also grew up during a war,
and also spent more than a month in a basement
You won't knock me over this time!
I know the mental state of these kids,
and the importance of people from outside just coming to be there for them
OK, I give up!
You all have meds, tourniquets, and syringes?
Yes
Everyone?
- You don't? Did they give you any? - I gave them away to inject the wounded 00:18:47.80 00:18:58.60 [ VO ]This is Pyatnashka, the DPR militia’s famous international brigade, a fighting force that includes Donbass miners, steel workers, students, teachers, actors, businessmen, and foreign volunteers.
People from all over the post-Soviet area have come here to fight Nazism
Because here, they always say their grandfathers won and so will we
They know why they came and how, it wasn't for nothing 00:19:16.00 00:19:29.68 [ VO ]Pyatnashka volunteers fight on the front line, and also escort humanitarian deliveries. Shortly before the expedition sets off for Mariupol’s most dangerous and exposed-to-fire area, the commander himself gives us instructions.
Sometimes they drive up and say:
'Guys, come with me, I'll show you a place for a nice shot' or something
They can take you aside, capture and abduct you
Just saying, 'Go left or right' doesn't work now - it's war
Caution never hurt anyone,
so you'd better not drive in the dark and always try to have an escort 00:19:55.60 00:20:06.64 [ VO ]A few Pyatnashka fighters escort us to Mariupol. We’re distributing food and water to those who’ve gone without for a long time. We’re also visiting several addresses, to find people and evacuate them.
The streets around 'Azovstal' are mined
We'll see. There are ways around. The soldiers showed us some
We'll try to get through to the people there
Humanitarian aid!
- Call everyone, people in cellars - Call them all in the cellars
Quickly!
- Need my passport? - Nothing's needed
Run!
Olya, follow me
These are food packages with all you need, sugar and canned food
Great, thank you
Take one and step away!
Yuliya, where are you going?
Get the kids together. When we're done, I'll give them sweets
Kids, we're alive! Everything's OK, it's all OK!
Uncle Vitya, Aunt Nadya! I'm Anna Malyavina, your niece. I'm alive!
Boris, Ulyanovsk, I'm OK. Lena, we're OK, we're all safe and sound
I want to say hello to my son, Pavel Kalmykov, and to say we're OK,
we're alive
I'm alive, I'm doing OK
Our flat's gone, it was shelled, we live in a cellar... I'm sorry!
I won't talk long now, it's not my phone
Mine was stolen by the Nazis who took our home
Well… The Nazis are still shelling us, you know, I'm still afraid to go
Ruslan, Ruslan, jump in!
Jump in! They know we're here, look a shell
Yes, we must go
They aimed at us. We'd gathered a crowd together,
and someone told them
Look at them there. Who the f**k are they? Scumbags
They have phones, sending their position
- See the phones? - Yes, looking aside
I think they must have aimed at us
No one's given out aid here, and there were about 200 people
Any of them could take a bag, then tell them which intersection we're at
I think our coordinates were sent
Anyway, they're in touch with each other 00:22:42.31 00:22:50.39 [ VO ]While the aid truck is on its way to another place, Yury wants to check an address in the Ilyich plant area, cleared of nationalists just 2 days before.
Something hit nearby 00:22:57.26 00:23:00.86 [ VO ]They need to find Aleksandr Komarov and his daughter and take them to Russia.
- Aleksandr Komarov? - I don't know him
Maybe that's his grave over there
- This is Oleg Starushchenko - It's not him, let's go to that side
Mortars were fired, 2 people are dead on the road
Hello
He should be with a child, a girl
- No, they haven't been here - Entrance 2
Oh, this is Entrance 1
- This is 17 Ilyich Prospect? - Yes
Aleksandr Komarov, born December 15, 1979?
Yes
We've come for you... Will you come?
Your sister from Pavlovsky Posad in Moscow Region sent us
- Yes, Oksana Marycheva - Yes
I took in a family, their home burned down
- What should we do? Will you come? - Where? To Moscow?
We'll take you to Donetsk, and they'll pick you up
I just don't know
Please, decide. We came a long way to get here
Think about it
Oksana, it's OK, I'll stay for now
I've just taken in a family
- You're alive? - I'm alive
Everything's OK! If you can, tell Mum I'm OK
I'll find the number and call her 00:24:36.66 00:24:42.98 [ VO ]We hurry to another address. We need to evacuate Lidia Antonova and her sister Tamara from Kuindzhi street.
Watch your step please, be very careful
Stay on the asphalt, don't step right or left
Hello
- You're here for us? - For you
Good!
- Where was 'Azov'? - Everywhere! They were over there
'Azov' shelled our place on March 20
Yes, the 20th, they burned the house and on the 21st a tank shelled our home
Their tanks just fired on us
When our house caught fire, we ran out, and the tank was there aiming at us
Some men told them, 'Well, shoot us already!'
and it turned away
Are you ready?
- Yes, sir! - Yes, sir! We've come for you!
The Red Army! 00:25:35.63 00:25:38.83 [ VO ]Lidia recently suffered a stroke and can’t walk on her own.
She's smiling, that means she's OK
- Can we take my TV? - We'll buy you a new one, don't worry
- It'll be stolen in no time - We'll buy a new one
It'll be OK
- It'll all be OK - OK, bye now 00:26:14.02 00:26:21.50 [ VO ]The expedition is over and Yury’s on his way back to Moscow. His business colleagues say, there are many issues to attend to.
[ Yury ]At times, when you leave, something inside remains behind,
and you want to return soon
To return with a delivery, to return physically
I want to go back and to help
It's a disease that's caught me, and it won't let me go