Kateryna Turchanova’s direct communication with her fiancé, a Mariupol defender, was cut short in the last days of April. Then, there was just sporadic news reaching her until mid-May. She learned that Vadym was alive only a month later, on June 15, when she saw him in a propaganda video broadcast by Russian TV. Although happy that her beloved one was alive, she was also furious, as she saw traces of torture on him and the inhuman way he was treated. Since then, she has been trying to contact her fiancé and demanding the Red Cross, government organizations, and the international community to act.
Vadym Kytara (nom de guerre “Steiner”) is about to turn 25, of which seven years he’s been defending Ukraine – first as a volunteer, and now as an Azov Regiment serviceman. Katia is five years younger. They began as just two young people of humor laughing at each other’s jokes, then became close friends, and finally fell in love. They waited for the right time to engage until both understood that there could be no right time, as time was only running out. He proposed and she accepted. From Azovstal, Vadym sent her a news that it was possible to marry via Zoom. They laughed at it and decided to wait until they would be able to wed in Kyiv.
Kateryna says that despite Vadym’s strong physique and beard, with her this orderly and responsible soldier was a mere child, as only children are capable of such a pure and unconditional love. And he also loved his grandparents, with whom he spent most of his life, adored kids, and cared for animals – in Shyrokyne and then at Azovstal dogs and cats always accompanied him.
“The war that came to our land in the spring of 2014 showed the true nature of many Ukrainians. Some, as it turned out, just ate Ukrainian bread, and then happily waved the tricolor [Russian flag], meeting the Russian occupiers, and some took up arms,” says Kateryna.
When the full-scale invasion began, Katia stayed in Kyiv and was not planning to leave. Vadym was in Mariupol and was defending the city. He got a perforating wound on his leg. Before communication with Mariupol went off completely, Vadym managed to call her, once in a week or two, just to cry out how much he loved her.
She says Vadym has lost his upper teeth and 20 kilograms of body weight, and the way the Azovstal defenders are treated resembles the Black Dolphin Prison, Russia’s most brutal penal colony, rather than a POW camp. “Where is the third party? Where is the Red Cross?” There are many more unanswered questions, so she has decided to act methodically and loudly. And she is sure she’ll be able to bring him back alive.
In her endeavors, Kateryna keeps in touch with Vadym’s relatives and friends, wives of other Mariupol defenders, and the Association of Families of Azovstal Defenders. “We are proceeding in compliance with laws and in accord with authorities,” she says.
She names social media coverage an essential contribution to the cause, triggering the interest of journalists. “We have no right to lose Ukraine’s best soldiers who have written the world’s history in the City of Maria and now are publicly threatened with the death penalty,” says Kateryna. “We have to act!”
Source: VOGUE.UA
