‘It hurts to think about Azovstal’: The surgeon smuggled into Mariupol to save Ukrainian soldiers
“It really hurts to think about Azovstal,” Yevgen says, remembering how bombs rained down as defenders made their last stand inside the steelworks. “Not all of us came back.”
It was a desperate situation. Medical staff worked around the clock treating the wounded in a bunker, as fighters outside mounted fierce resistance against appalling odds.
Yevgen Gerasimenko, a retired military surgeon, was working in a hospital in Dnipro, southeastern Ukraine, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February last year. Like so many others, he put his hand up to defend his homeland.
What followed was a daring flight into besieged Mariupol on a helicopter loaded with ammunition. The plan was to smuggle him into Azovstal to save lives.
After the steelworks and city fell to Kremlin forces on 20 May, he spent four months as a prisoner of war.
“I can’t think about Azovstal without tears in my eyes”, Yevgen, 62, tells Sky News in an exclusive interview for the anniversary of the surrender of the steelworks.
Yevgen Gerasimenko
Flying low into Mariupol under cover of darkness
“Helicopters were there waiting for us,” he said.
It was 2am on 31 March 2022 and Yevgen was at an airport with a group of fellow medics including another surgeon, two anaesthesiologists and a head nurse.
There wasn’t even enough room to sit down in the aircraft because of all the supplies packed tightly onboard.
“We flew really low, about eight or 10 metres above the land. Sometimes I even felt we touched the tops of trees.”
They landed successfully and transferred to motorboats which were loaded with ammunition and weapons.
Smoke rising from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol
“We couldn’t have any lights, it was dangerous. We didn’t want anyone to spot us so we had to use GPS to get to Azovstal.”
It took about an hour to reach the docks near the factory. But their adventure was far from over – airstrikes started as the group approached the plant and lasted for about three hours.
They watched as planes approached the metalworks and dropped bombs just 700 metres or so from where they were hidden. Eventually, they made it inside.
The ‘fortress’ came under relentless shelling from Russian forces
Inside the factory fortress
“We were exposed to constant bombardment from the enemy,” Yevgen said. “They tried to hit us from air, land and sea.”
There was a constant flow of wounded coming into the bunker where Yevgen and his colleagues worked, treating about 350 patients at a time.
A Ukrainian soldier inside the ruined metalworks on 7 May 2022. Pic: AP
“Our medical staff were physically exhausted and psychologically depressed. They had to work 24/7 with injured people.
“There wasn’t enough air in there. There wasn’t enough drinking water, food or sunshine.”
Ukrainian soldiers injured during fighting against Russian forces pose for a photographer on 10 May, 2022. Pic: AP
Azovstal fighters lay down their arms
The defence of Mariupol has already gone down in history, with the last Ukrainian soldiers holding out for weeks in the ruins of their city.
Finally President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave the order for all those who remained in the steelworks to surrender.
In Yevgen’s view, “that order saved the lives of over 2,500 people”.
A Ukrainian soldier stands inside the ruined Azovstal factory prior to the surrender. Pic: AP
On 20 May, after more than 80 days of resistance, the last Ukrainian fighters laid down their arms. Those who had defended the steelworks were hailed as heroes by their government.
They were credited with tying up Russian troops for weeks, buying time for Ukrainian forces elsewhere to regroup and rearm.
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Four months as a prisoner of war
After their surrender, any hopes that he and his colleagues would be immediately returned to Ukraine, or granted rights consistent with their status as medical professionals under the rules of war were dashed.
“Russia did not follow the Geneva Convention. It violated all the rules,” he said.
“All our medical staff, including nurses and military doctors, were taken hostage.”
Ukrainian servicemen leaving the steelworks after the surrender. Pic: AP
Yevgen says he was held captive for a total of four months. He was taken prisoner on 20 May – he remembers the date because it’s his wife’s birthday – until 20 September when he was released back into Ukrainian-held territory.
“It’s difficult to describe the feelings I experienced during that time”, he said.
“I feel bitterness, and I feel sorry for the nurses and medical staff who are still in Russian-held territory, illegally kept as prisoners of war.”
Heart of Azovstal project
Yevgen was able to return home. He is now back working at a hospital treating wounded soldiers.
He is also promoting the Heart of Azovstal project, an initiative launched by Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov to support people who helped defend Mariupol, and the families of those still in captivity.
The project includes treatment and rehabilitation programmes designed to meet the diverse needs of the soldiers and their families, and help them return to a civilian lifestyle.
Looking back at the events of 12 months ago, Yevgen says it is tough to think about what happened. But, he adds, if he could go back to March 2022 he would do it all over again.
“Mariupol, Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Crimea – this is our homeland and we must defend it.”
World
Egypt: Two Britons believed to be among 16 missing as tourist boat sinks after being ‘hit by large wave’
Two Britons are believed to be among more than a dozen people missing after a boat sank in the Red Sea off the Egyptian coast.
The yacht, called Sea Story, had 44 people on board, including 31 tourists of varying nationalities and 13 crew.
Authorities are searching for 16 people, including 12 foreign nationals and four Egyptians, the governor of the Red Sea region said, adding that 28 other people had been rescued.
Preliminary reports suggested a sudden large wave struck the vessel, capsizing it within about five minutes, governor Amr Hanafi said.
“Some passengers were in their cabins, which is why they were unable to escape,” he added in a statement.
Survivors rescued from the Sea Story in Marsa Alam. Pic: STR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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Passengers rescued from sunken tourist boat
The people who were rescued only suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scrapes with none needing hospital treatment.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office spokesperson said: “We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Egypt and are in contact with the local authorities.”
The foreign nationals aboard the 34-metre-long vessel, owned by an Egyptian national, included Americans, Belgians, British, Chinese, Finns, Germans, Irish, Poles, Slovakians, Spanish, and Swiss.
Sea Story had no technical problems, obtained all required permits before the trip, and was last checked for naval safety in March, according to officials.
The four-deck, wooden-hulled motor yacht was part of a multi-day diving trip when it went down near the coastal town of Marsa Alam following warnings about rough weather.
Officials said a distress call was received at 5.30am local time on Monday.
The boat had left Port Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday and was scheduled to reach its destination of Hurghada Marina on 29 November.
The Sea Story had 44 people on board. File pic: Dive Pro Liveaboard
Some survivors had been airlifted to safety on a helicopter, officials said.
The firm that operates the yacht, Dive Pro Liveaboard in Hurghada, said it has no information on the matter.
According to its maker’s website, the Sea Story was built in 2022.
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The incident comes after the Egyptian Meteorological Authority issued a warning on Saturday about turbulence and high waves on the Red Sea.
The organisation had advised against maritime activity for Sunday and Monday.
Some tourist companies have stopped or limited operations on the Red Sea due to the potential dangers from conflicts in the region.
A motion has been filed to drop the charges against Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 US presidential election result.
Mr Trump was first indicted on four felonies in August 2023: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
The president-elect pleaded not guilty to all charges and the case was then put on hold for months as Mr Trump’s team argued he could not be prosecuted.
Special Counsel Jack Smith. Pic: Reuters
Donald Trump supporters storm the US Capitol
On Monday, prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith, who had led the investigation, asked a federal judge to dismiss the case over long-standing US justice department policy, dating back to the 1970s, that presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.
It marks the end of the department’s landmark effort to hold Mr Trump accountable for the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 when thousands of Trump supporters assaulted police, broke through barricades, and swarmed the Capitol in a bid to prevent the US Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Mr Smith’s team had been assessing how to wind down both the election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Mr Trump’s election victory over vice president Kamala Harris earlier this month, effectively killing any chance of success for the case.
In court papers, prosecutors said “the [US] Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated”.
They said the ban [on prosecuting sitting presidents] “is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind”.
Mr Trump, who has said he would sack Mr Smith as soon as he takes office in January, and promised to pardon some convicted rioters, has long dismissed both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case as politically motivated.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. Pic: AP
He was accused of illegally keeping classified papers after leaving office in 2021, some of which were allegedly found in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
The election interference case stalled after the US Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, which Mr Trump’s lawyers exploited to demand the charges against him be dismissed.
Mr Smith’s request to drop the case still needs to be approved by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
No date had been set for a trial.
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At least 1,500 cases have been brought against those accused of trying to overthrow the election result on 6 January 2021, resulting in more than 1,100 convictions, the Associated Press said.
More than 950 defendants have been sentenced and 600 of them jailed for terms ranging from a few days to 22 years.
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