Supermarket becomes beacon of light for those making 'terrifying' escape from Mariupol

The Epicentre hypermarket in the city of Zaporizhzhia is a strange, if extraordinary place.

Like any shed-like supermarket, you see people as they park, grabbing trollies and food from the aisles.

Alternatively, if you have spent time there over the past four weeks, you will have witnessed thousands of people in overcrowded vehicles, pulling into the car park, climbing out the door, and staring at their surroundings with something approaching disbelief.

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The supermarket has been turned into a staging post for 60,000 people fleeing southeastern parts of the country.

It is not an easy journey to the Epicentre. The majority spend days as they attempt to make it to Zaporizhzhia – the city is their first stop in Ukrainian-controlled territory.

For the residents of Mariupol, the supermarket has become a beacon of light after weeks spent living in the ruins of their city.

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It is thought that 100,000 or more are still trapped in the ruins and attempts by local government officials and international NGOs to organise evacuation convoys have largely failed.

A convoy of buses made it to the Russian-controlled city of Berdyansk, bringing more than 2,300 back to Zaporizhzhia but attempts by the International Committee of the Red Cross to get 54 vehicles into Mariupol have floundered.

An ICRC spokesman said the parties were unable to “provide the necessary conditions and security guarantees”.

For the most part, those people who manage to escape have participated in their own do-it-yourself evacuations.

Some have cars or know someone with a vehicle and there are others who have been driven out by brave volunteers.

We met a mother-of-two called Maria Tsimerman who owns a beaten-up van and an extraordinary sense of duty.

She has been driving into Mariupol to pick up the sick and the injured while leading citizen convoys out of the city.

As a former resident, she says she knows exactly what they are going through.

“Did you drive into Mariupol?,” I asked as she climbed out of her white van.

“Yes,” she replied, in a matter-of-fact manner.

“That’s very brave.”

“Yes, but it’s not the first time,” she added.

“Did you get permission from the Russian military to enter the city?,” I enquired.

“No, it was my decision, but when I was sitting with my husband and my kids in a shelter, we promised each other that we would help people like us.”

I asked Maria about the journey she had just completed.

“The entrance to Mariupol is a really terrifying thing because they are conducting a military sweep. The Chechens are there, (Ramzan) Kadyrov’s guys, it’s scary.

“I drove injured people, hurt by shelling and it was really difficult. (Russian soldiers) check everything and they took our phones and money, so yes, it was uncomfortable.”

With that, she smiled and got back in the van but one member of her convoy, called Kateryna, said there was something she needed to add.

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“Thanks a lot to Maria, we couldn’t get out by ourselves, we don’t know the road, there are no (road) signs, we drove under the shelling, around minefields, I just want to salute her.”

“She is really brave and she is driving by herself, in front of a column of male drivers.”

“Could you do that?” she enquired.

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