As a Ukrainian doctor, she survived the hell of “Azovstal” together with her four-year-old daughter

On October 14th, the guards entered our cell and said: “Gather your things!” There were only four of us left in the cell, the others had already been taken away in groups. They read three names, mine was not among them. I started begging them to call someone, I said I wanted to leave with the others. They replied: “If we can get you temporary documents, you can go.”

In the end, they just wrote something by hand on paper and I was able to use it to get out of Olenivka. They blindfolded us, tied our hands and loaded us into a truck.

We were taken to a distribution point in Taganrog, Russia and placed in a prison cell. On October 17, they blindfolded and tied our hands again, put us in the car, and then told us to get on the plane. After we had to get back into the car, only then were we finally allowed to take off the bandages.

We understood that we were going to Zaporozhye, but we did not believe that there would be a prisoner exchange until the last moment. We thought, “At some point the car will spin and we’ll go to another penal colony.” Even when we saw the buses from Ukraine, we were still worried that things would fall apart somehow.

When we finally got off the bus and breathed in the Ukrainian air, we realized: “It’s over! We are free!” In the first two days we were not fully aware that we were free. Out of habit, we kept our hands behind our backs and ate quickly…

Of course I also spoke to Alice. Now we call every day. I feel how she has matured in these months. She keeps asking me, “Mom, are you coming in a week?” I tell her: “A little later”. Until I finish my rehabilitation, I can’t go to Poland to stay with them. The others and I have to go through rehabilitation in Dnipro, and it will last about a month. All doctors will visit us, run tests and renew documents. I can’t wait to finally see my mother and Alice and hug them.