RTDocumentary

‘Put it like this so you can't be seen, but you can see everything. I tell you this for the future. You are a sniper; you will be the first to be shot.’ This footage shows a militia fighter training a new soldier, a yesterday's civilian, to defend himself against Ukrainian nationalists. During the fierce fighting for Mariupol, people from various professions were forced to take up arms. ‘Some are miners, security guards. A journalist is here. Electricians, drivers’, told us Mariupol residents. Those who went to fight say the desire to protect their people from the atrocities of the Ukrainian military was stronger than fear. This excerpt will be included in our future film about the battle for Mariupol and those who took part in it. It will premiere soon. #Ukraine#Mariupol Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘They just shelled them. They said it was the Russian Army. Provocations were made. They were driving civilians into basements, shelling was over, and they occupied these positions - their houses, flats.’ A fighter of the Vostok battalion, codenamed ‘Yegor’, described the Ukrainian armed forces’ actions during the fighting in Mariupol. According to him, Ukrainian soldiers drove people out into the street and set up firing points in their flats: ‘They [Ukrainian military] were taking nine-storey buildings, five-storey buildings - it doesn’t matter. In the private sector, they were occupying these dwellings.’ ‘Yegor’ also explained to our camera crew the tactics of the operation at Azovstal - how he and other fighters drove the Ukrainian nationalists and military out of the plant. This episode includes an interview with fighters from the Vostok battalion. It will be included in our new film, which will premiere soon. #Ukraine#Mariupol Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

“These are the Nazis; they [the Armed Forces of Ukraine] tortured us for eight years before. Now they want to show that they are protecting Ukraine.” When the Ukrainian military was in the city, Mariupol residents told how they lived without food, water, or heat. How relatives, friends, and neighbours who died from Ukrainian shelling were buried. “I want to convey to Zelensky personally: “Can this be allowed? After all, it was possible to solve everything humanly.” And he, the scoundrel, decided to destroy us? says a resident. Only after the departure of the Ukrainian army, where possible, did they begin to restore the water supply and conduct electricity gradually. Memories of Mariupol residents about the atrocities of the Ukrainian army will be included in our new film. And also the chronology of events and how the nationalist movement was formed in Ukraine. Premiere soon. Do not miss it. #Mariupol#Ukraine Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘I told them [Azov fighters] that they were coming to life, I would have shot them myself... I don’t have an ounce of pity here...’ These are the words of labour veteran Tatyana Ivanovna. She lives in a village near Azovstal. Listen to her story of the Azov battalion shooting the animals in the area and how they almost killed her for trying to save her chickens. How they mocked her when she asked for water and food: I told their commander: ‘I want to eat, I haven’t eaten for six days …’ And he’s like: ‘I also want to’. But ‘DPR people... came, hugged me, one brought me stew, another brought me bread, and one even thought of bringing sweets’. We turned to the subjects of the film VolunTears. They helped Tatyana Ivanovna and other residents of the village of Uspenovka by bringing them food, water and medicine. #Ukraine#Mariupol#Azovstal Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘It’s quiet here! In Mariupol, there’s heavy shelling’. Seven-year-old Dima talks about what he went through. The boy's parents died, hiding him from Ukrainian shelling. Finally, Russian soldiers found him and brought him to the Children's Social Centre in Khartsyzsk. ‘The kid’s very scared. He blinks a lot and squeezes his eyes’, - the centre’s teachers haven’t told Dima about his parents. He thinks he lost them. Ten days after filming, Dima was taken by his uncle. There are 17 children in the Children's Social Centre. Most of them were taken out of the war zone by volunteers. Those who risk their lives to save others are featured in our video premiere of VolunTears. #premiere#Mariupol#Ukraine Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘Azov came and said: ‘Come to the factory, to the bomb shelter!’. And then they say: 'We're going to die, and all of you will die here with us!'. Michael, a worker at the Azovstal plant, talks about how the Azov fighters lured people to the facility to use them as human shields. Today, when the Ukrainian media call the surrender of nationalists ‘evacuation’, I want to show them this video. And to convey the words of an Azovstal worker, where his colleagues who were held hostage died: ‘They're not human! They must be exterminated! They don't deserve a trial’. This is an interview from our new film. The premiere is coming soon. #video#Ukraine#Mariupol Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘The Ukrainian forces began to shell heavily… they burnt my house down. They kicked my parents out, they had a 3-storey house. They’re in their 80s.’ Mariupol residents speak of their experience while the city was occupied by Ukraine's Armed Forces. The Ukrainian army left behind destroyed houses and continued shelling buildings even as they retreated. See people's recollections and war correspondents' stories in our premiere - Battle for Mariupol. #premiere#Ukraine#Mariupol Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

#video#Mariupol A resident of Mariupol alleges the Azov* Battalion pulled people out of their houses and ushered them into basements. Tanks started firing from everywhere, and no one could lift their head out for four days. He says, ‘the Russians were not even close at the time. This is murder, murder of people. This was done by Azov*. He claims the Ukrainian military herded everyone into the basement. In the destroyed Mariupol, civilians are left without food, water, or medicines. During the shelling, food was brought to them by the Angel humanitarian group led by Alexei Smirnov. They go to the most dangerous places, often narrowly avoiding death on mined roads. An RT Documentary crew filmed the Angels for several days, once coming under fire. This is a clip from our new film Donbass: I'm Alive! The RT Documentary team has returned from Mariupol and collected locals' testimonies. *recognised in Russia as extremist and banned Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

#video#Mariupol ‘Oksana, it’s all right. I’m staying for now. Moreover, I adopted my family here. I’m alive and well. Everything is fine. If it works, then tell your mother that everything is in order’. Alexander Komarov from Mariupol wrote down these words for his sister in the Moscow region, who asked to take her brother out of the ruined city. They searched for him for a long time. In one of the courtyards, they suggested a grave in a neighbouring front garden was his. But there was another name on the cross. There was little time as the volunteer humanitarian convoy was about to leave. The address was searched for around Nikopolskaya Street, not far from the Ilyich metallurgical plant where fighting had recently taken place. The convoy decided to check another address and found Alexander. He said he let a family with a wounded child stay with him as their house burned down. He refused to leave people and evacuate. Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

#video#Mariupol ‘The only people they [Mariupol residents] don’t blame is Russia because to them, Russia is coming, and they have saved these people.’ John Dougan, a former US police officer, conveys what residents of Mariupol told him. He went to the war zone because he didn’t believe the Western media: ‘The story that was being reported in the Western media was not the story that the people were living in Ukraine.’ Residents heard John speaking English, approached him, and asked to relay their messages to the world: ‘From the beginning of the war, I wanted the whole world to know that the way they protected us is not protection. They were hiding behind our backs. They just simply destroyed us.’ John is now actively blogging about his trips to Donbass. He hopes as many people as possible around the world will find out the truth about the situation. Want to know more about John Dougan? Watch our documentary about him 'Breaking Bad Wolf' right now. Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

#video#Mariupol ‘When two shells flew into our yard, my husband immediately said: ‘Ukraine’. That’s where they were sitting, and it flew in from there... A Ukrainian tank was standing on the street’, says a refugee from Mariupol. Her husband was seriously wounded: they removed his spleen and a rib. When they arrived at the hospital, there was ‘no water, nothing’. The woman says that doctors and nurses cried because they could not help the seriously injured. Now she, like many other refugees, has found temporary shelter in the village of Bezymennoe. Their stories will be featured in a new RT Documentary film. Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

#video#Mariupol ‘When our house caught fire, we jumped out. And here, the tank was standing and pointed its muzzle at us. And the men say: ‘Well, shoot. What are you looking at?’ [Only] then did he take it and turn the muzzle away’. Tamara Antonova tells how, during a bombardment, together with her neighbours, she jumped out of the basement directly in front of an Azov* battalion tank. Her home is next to the Azovstal plant, where the Azov* militants are located. Tamara could not leave: her sister Lydia was lying in the apartment. RT and a Russia-DPR humanitarian convoy team managed to bring them out. *banned in Russia Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary