Improbably, Oleksiy Symonov led 117 people on foot to escape from Mariupol alive in the midst of the siege and shelling.
Among the many stories of heroism that emerge from the Ukrainian war (and those we will never know), there’s the story of Oleksiy Symonov. He led 117 people on foot to escape from Mariupol alive in the midst of the siege and shelling. He led them for 12 hours and took them to a safer place.
For this reason, he has begun to be called "the Moses of Mariupol." Instead of through the Egyptian desert, he led his flock along the highways of Ukraine.
Mariupol is now occupied by the Russians. Who knows what would have become of all these people if they had stayed in the city. No place was safe for them anymore, not even shelters, and there was no food.
Before being nicknamed "Symoses," 44-year-old Symonov was a organizer, host, and judge of sporting events. At the beginning of the war, he went to a shelter in his neighborhood with his wife and three children, aged 7 to 14. It was a large subway and there were an average of 280 people coming and going, with about 50 children and a similar number of elderly and disabled people. It wouldn’t have been his first choice, but he was trapped. He told the Kharkiv Human rights Protection Group (KHPG) that he didn’t have a car and considered the escape route, plagued with Russian occupiers, too risky.
It was cold, and they had to collect rainwater to drink and make soups or tea infusions. They made fire with logs that the men went to fetch: first they cut them down with a saw they bought, but then they used the tree trunks blown to pieces by the bombs. He told KHPG:
It was common for artillery, aviation and mortar bombardments to be heard outside. According to what he told the ABC journalist, the shelter was the target of four periods of bombing.
The moment of their escape
Symonov held on as long as he could, but the shelling of the Mariupol Theater, which took place on March 16, made Symonov decide to get out of that hell, taking with him as many people as he could.
On the 22nd, without means of transport or supplies, they left Mariupol. They had to take advantage of the fact that the Russians were attacking other neighborhoods. That was the only positive thing they could see, and they had to seize the opportunity because there was no reason to think that there would be a better opportunity if they waited any longer.
The group started with 80 people loaded with bundles made from the bags of what they had in the shelter. They were joined by 37 others and thus formed a long line. The youngest was 5 years old, and the oldest, 70. KHPG asked Symonov what it was like. He replied:
Symonov explained to the journalist from ABC how they were able to travel unharmed:
In retrospect, the leader assesses for ABC how the escape went and what they saw along the way:
The group led by Symonov had to get through 17 Russian checkpoints. He says that they were very professional and treated them well, but they were inviting them to get onto transportation that would take them to Russia. Most didn't want to go. Symonov doesn't judge the other people who did, though, because he understands that in that situation, what everyone wants is to flee from such great danger. He told KHPG:
The 12 hours of escape were moments when everyone gave their best. He explained to ABC:
After 12 hours of walking, exhausted and in very precarious conditions, the escape party reached Komyshuvate, a town west of Mariupol. They were met with a wave of solidarity: the neighbors came to their aid in the best way they could. They gave them a place to sit, food, shelter ... They were still in their country at war, but somewhat safer. “The families gave us shelter in Komyshuvate in warm houses. We showered for the first time in a month. What can I say? I have a second family in Komyshuvate now,” he told KHPG.
Symonov says he had trained himself for crisis situations that can occur in his line of work. Some examples from apocalyptic movies also served him well. But the driving force has undoubtedly been his desire to help all these people and get his family to safety.
