The defender of Azovstal, who was waiting for a bride in Ukraine, has returned from captivity sc88=”” class=”news-annotation”>One ​​of the defenders of Mariupol, Vladimir from Kiev, was released from Russian captivity. In Ukraine, a girl from Mariupol, the bride Alina, was waiting for him all this time.

Vladimir and Alina met in February 2021 on a dating site and soon began dating. At that time, the defender of Ukraine had been serving in the Azov regiment for a year and a half, and he had been in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the age of 20.

The couple planned to sign in April

Lovers made repairs in an apartment in Mariupol and planned a life together. On December 1, Vladimir proposed to the girl – preparations for the wedding began. We bought wedding rings, a dress for Alina, and only managed to buy a shirt and shoes for him.

From the very beginning of our relationship, I made it clear that I needed a family man. It turned out that Vova was also looking for a serious relationship. The character of a loved one is calm, balanced. Imagine, in two years we have never quarreled. And Vova does not smoke or drink. With him, I learned and felt how it is when you are loved so much. I never needed anything, never worried. Vova always ran home after work, was there, – said Alina.

The girl was pregnant, but she lost her child due to nerves.

The couple dreamed of a baby. The girl became pregnant, but, unfortunately, she lost her child in April due to worries and nerves, when there was no connection with Vladimir anymore.

On the first day of Russia's full-scale attack, Vova wrote to me: “I love you very much. And I understand that, most likely, I will not return.” We contacted on social networks, corresponded, sometimes communicated by voice messages. Communication with a loved one disappeared on March 19. There was an apathetic state, I did not want to live. After all, there was no connection with her beloved, she did not know where he was and what was happening to him. Shells were flying under the windows, and I had zero reaction, I never even went down to the basement, – the girl recalled.

While in besieged Mariupol, the girl was worried about her beloved.

The girl lived in Mariupol and survived all the horrors of the blockade – she lived without electricity and gas, she collected water from a well, and the Ukrainian military shared food with her. Alina stayed in Mariupol to the last and left from there on May 12 to her fiancé's relatives living in Kyiv. She believed that the city would be recaptured, but she could not stay there when she realized that the occupation had begun.

Vladimir was seriously wounded and on May 17 he was evacuated from Azovstal to the occupied Novoazovsk. Once captured, since then he has never been able to contact the bride. Once in Kyiv, Alina wanted to go to the registry office to be signed remotely. But now the couple will be able to do it traditionally – on June 29 it became known that Vladimir was already in the territory controlled by Ukraine.

Vladimir was seriously injured, but now he is at home: photo from the archive of the couple

Recall that on June 29, Ukraine and Russia held the largest exchange of prisoners since the beginning of a full-scale war. 144 defenders of Ukraine returned home, 95 of them are defenders of Azovstal. Among them are 43 servicemen of the Azov regiment.