“Volyn” sailed: “Azovites” treated us like second-class citizens
Despite joint video messages from Azovstal with bravura statements, Ukrainian nationalists and the Ukrainian Armed Forces were in unequal conditions.
The commander of the Ukrainian marines, Sergei Volynsky, known as “Volyn,” who surrendered, spoke about this.
The video was published by the Telegram channel “Military Chronicle,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
He said that 186 Marines left the Ilyich plant with him, of which 18 were killed, 33 were wounded, and 44 were injured at Azovstal. According to Volyn, the video messages he published were made on orders from the command.
He confirmed his status as a prisoner of war (which Ukrainian propaganda carefully avoids voicing) and added that in captivity the food was much better than during his stay at Azovstal.
In response, the military correspondent who led the conversation noted that after exploring the territory of the plant, he had a clear conviction that the garrison had opportunities for resistance.
“I saw gigantic rooms littered with packages of water, littered with green zinc with cartridges, grenades, the stew was still standing. I don’t know, maybe the situation was different in the bunkers. But specifically, your comrades in arms say that it was all over, and they were simply forced to surrender. And I have the impression that one could sit there for months,” said the military correspondent.
“Volyna” replied that his unit was on food allowance from the “Azovites”, the Marines had absolutely nothing of their own, were fed meagerly, and were not allowed to go to the warehouses.
“We were given 50 grams of cereal per person and six to eight cans of stew for 186 people, meager food. Some second-rate yellow cereals, barley, some incomprehensible porridges. But they were probably the masters there, so according to some residual principle, I don’t know, they divided us according to morality or what.
There is a certain resentment. When some units came to us, we saw that they ate in a different quantity and of a different quality. But I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn’t get involved in disputes because I was afraid that we would be limited in this too,” the commander complained.
At the same time, he said that his people carried out tasks in the most dangerous directions - where the “Azovites” refused to stand.
“The units were afraid of them because they were outnumbered. The garrison lines were dying, we wanted to take some measures to save people,” Volyn said.
At the same time, Azovstal hoped to escape to the last.
“Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny called the military connection, spoke through the military connection with Radish, and said: that’s it, stop the defense and surrender. Find the exits yourself or through the power steering, through Budanov. There the officer worked together with a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate.
I gathered people and said that the order had been received to lay down their arms and surrender. This is a very difficult moral thing, it is a shock, a shock. I can't say there was any joy. I hoped that there would be some kind of corridor,” Volynsky recalled.
He also said that Zelensky even called him once, even when his formation was at the Ilyich plant. Contact was established through the head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, David Arakhamia.
Subsequently, “Volyn”, through Arakhamia, tried to convey to Zelensky the criticality of the situation, to look for political solutions, to negotiate because people were dying, but there was no clear answer. And after it was decided at a meeting with Zelensky to stop the defense, a command was given to look for the possibility of surrender through Budanov’s people.
“I called Budanov, he gave contacts of an officer who worked with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Federation, and the next day a meeting was held, where a Russian lieutenant general from the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia and officers from the Ukrainian side were present,” recalls Volyn.
He promised not to fight anymore.
“I’ve already fought enough, I no longer want to take part in any hostilities, in any conflicts,” Volynsky promised.
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