Some residents of Ukraine’s devastated Mariupol city who managed to escape say they were given no choice but to travel to Russia, which the Kyiv government regards as “exile”.
After spending weeks in Mariupol’s basement and the death of her father who was killed in a rocket attack, Tatiana decides to leave her hometown to try to save her nine-year-old daughter.
With no mobile network or any possibility of communication, he took advantage of a lull in the fire to find a way to a meeting place set up by pro-Russian officials.
There he was told that going to Russia was the only option.
“We were in shock. We didn’t want to go to Russia,” the 38-year-old accountant said over the phone from Riga, Latvia, where he has sought asylum with his family.
“How can you get into a country that wants to kill you?”
For several weeks, Ukrainian officials have been accusing Moscow of “illegally relocating” more than a million Ukrainians to Russia or parts of it. Ukraine Currently controlled by the Russian military.
A Russian Defense Ministry official, Mikhail Mizhintsev, confirmed the number to one million, but said the relocation of civilians was being done only to “get them out” from “dangerous areas”.
Some civilians have actually been forced to turn to Russia because travel to the Ukrainian occupied territories was halted by fighting.
Speaking to AFP after Russia entered Estonia, Yelijaveta, originally from Izium, a city currently occupied by the Russian military, said this was the case for her.
“It was impossible to go to Ukraine,” Tetiana, who asked not to be identified, told AFP.
‘You can’t really say’
Like Tatiana, two other families from Mariupol – where the Ukrainian government says 20,000 people were killed – said they were also forced to emigrate to Russia.
Svitlana, an employee at a large industrial establishment, also hid in a basement in Mariupol with her husband and father-in-law, until some Russian soldiers ordered them to give a part of the city entirely to Russian hands.
“When an armed man tells you that, you can’t really say,” said the 46-year-old, who has since been able to travel to Lviv in western Ukraine.
Her family was initially moved to Novozovsk, a small town near Mariupol that is in the hands of Russia-backed separatists.
There they stayed in a school for four days.
They were then transferred to Starobyshev, where they were placed in a crowded community center where people slept on the floor.
“The worst was dirty feet, dirty body odor. It remained on our things even after washing several times, ”said Svitlana.
Three days later, the family was interrogated in a building occupied by the separatist police.
They had to answer written questions about whether they had relatives in the Ukrainian military, their fingerprints were taken and they had to hand over their phones for checks.
In a separate room, the men had to take off their clothes to show that they had no Ukrainian patriotic tattoos or war wounds – a sign that they may have been in the military.
“My husband had to take off everything except his underwear and socks,” Svitlana said.
“We also removed all photos and social media from our phones,” she said, fearing possible repercussions due to her “pro-Ukrainian status”.
‘We finally felt free’
Ivan Druz, 23, who left Mariupol with his half-brother in April, faced the same treatment at Starobyshev.
He hoped to move to territory then controlled by Ukraine, but after much wandering through Russian-occupied territories, the Druze, now in Riga, was told that this was not possible.
“At first they tire you out and then they tell you that you can only go in one direction,” he said.
After reaching the Russian border, he had to undress and answer questions about conversations with his aunt in Ukraine.
“They asked me why she was texting me in Ukrainian” and “wanted to check that I was not a Nazi,” he said.
Once in Russia, the families of Tatiana and Druze were sent to Taganrog, about 100 kilometers (62 mi) from Mariupol.
Right after arriving, officials told him they had to travel by train to Vladimir – about 1,000 kilometers further north.
From there, Ivan and his half-brother had to move again, this time to the city of Murom, 130 km to the southeast, where they were placed in a hostel for refugees.
Thanks to Russian friends, the families of Ivan, Tetyana and Svitlana eventually traveled to Moscow and took buses to Latvia or Estonia, where Ukrainian refugees are being welcomed.
“Once in Latvia, we finally felt free,” said Tetyana.
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