The Resident of Irpin Voluntarily Surrendered to Save More Than 300 People: The Story of Maxym Menshun, Who Managed to Save Himself and Others

On March 5, 2022, the Russian occupiers began shelling Irpin in the neighborhood of Synergy. Mines and rockets flew into residential complexes from the side of the Buchanka river floodplain. People who did not have time to evacuate hid in basements and ground floors. At that time, none of them understood that the next day they would have to live with uninvited guests and their homes like life would no longer be the same. Dozens of enemy IFVs and tanks entered the closed area of the “Fortuna-2” apartment complex a few minutes after shelling. They destroyed everything on their way – the cars of the residents, the fence, the playgrounds, the trees, and most importantly, the peaceful life of the people who lived in their favorite city of independent Ukraine – Irpin.

Maxym Menshun, a resident of “Fortuna-2”, was just returning home from the evacuation site. He and several other activists of the complex independently organized a trip from Irpin to Kyiv, at that time there were no “green corridors”. “As soon as the buses with the people of Irpin left, the shelling started immediately and I barely managed to reach the first house on the way to lean against the wall and somehow stay alive. At that moment, a piece of shell flew at me and wounded me on the side, although I did not immediately understand, the wound could have been bigger, but my wallet saved me” – says Maxim, – “while I was hiding, more than 50 infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, and cars with fuel and food drove by our complex towards the city center. When things calmed down a bit, I ran to my porch to hide and get medical help. After a while, the bombing of the complex started again and I went down to the basement because it is safer there than on the 5th floor. Later I heard a well-known Russian dialect in the pharmacy. The occupiers entered the pharmacy from the street, and there was a service entrance from our side that they would see. Then I decided to surrender so that they would not enter the house and start shooting and walking around the apartments. There were still old people and small children. In total, more than 300 people remained in the complex, and we managed to evacuate the same number on our own by organizing an evacuation”.

According to Maxym, he did not think about fear and consequences then, the main thing was to save the lives of residents and preserve the infrastructure of the complex. Although he understood that there may be no way back. “I thought, if not me, then who? We had over 300 people left, some sitting in basements, some hiding on ground floors, and some unable to even go downstairs due to ill health, so I surrendered. They put machine guns in front of me, took me outside, and then hit me in the solar plexus to catch my breath, on my ribs and legs so that I could not run away. Then they searched carefully, stripped me almost naked, and then took me to their commander-in-chief because they didn’t know what to do with me. As we went there, they mocked and insulted me, trying to humiliate me, and also decided whether to kill me or not. When we came to the commander, I asked them not to destroy the apartment complex and not to shoot at the windows anymore, because we have women, children, and retired people there. They said it was very bad, but they complied with the request, they didn’t shoot at us anymore”, Maksym said.

He noted that the occupiers searched him thoroughly, confiscated his phone, and then asked several key questions that alerted him and suggested that there was an informant among the citizens. “The first thing they asked me was why I wasn’t evacuated, that is, they knew that some time ago we had organized an evacuation and the first shell flew into the house where several dozen people were preparing to evacuate. And as soon as people got on the bus, a shell flew in and rammed the entrance and the billboard, and then the light in the complex disappeared. This question seemed strange to me.

Then they clarified whether there were military and Bandera members in the complex. When I asked who they were, they said they were “black men with red headbands.” I assured them that there were no Bandera members or soldiers in the complex, only civilians who spent the night on the ground floors, so there was no need to shoot at the windows. They were indignant and said that we should sit in the basements, I explained that we did not have them” said Maxym Menshun.

According to him, the occupiers assured that it was not they who fired at the complex and the residents, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “The occupiers began to justify that it was not they who fired, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine to stop their column, so the houses were damaged. Of course, I didn’t believe it, because I know well where and why they shot” Maksym emphasized.

After the occupiers of the aggressor country calmed down and understood that there were no Bandera members in the complex and justified that they did not shoot, they began to say that this was not a war, but a “counter-defensive operation” and they are saving Ukrainians from the Nazis. But they couldn’t explain what it was. “Later they started looking at my phone, there were photos of our bombed complex. They clarified why I was filming and wanted to break the phone. I asked not to do that because it was the only way to contact my relatives, and their commander ordered the soldiers to give me the phone, provided I deleted the photo. I explained that I photographed the complex for the developer, because he promised to help with the restoration, and for this, you need to understand the scope of work. So, I managed to save the photos. They could not answer my question about what a “counter-defensive operation” is, they probably just don’t know, just as they don’t know that Ukraine is a foreign state. I asked them why they invaded a foreign country, a foreign territory, Ukraine is a different state, and they answered only “so what”? Then they told the well-known legend that they were studying when they were ordered to go to save Ukrainians from nationalists, Bandera members, and the moron president. Literally, “if your clown president came out, raised his hands, and surrendered, we would quickly restore order in the country and you would continue to live in peace”. Finally, they offered to go to the shops they smashed, take their food, and took me to the entrance, where they found me” Maksym Menshun summed up.

According to him, the residential complex was no longer fired upon, the occupiers gathered food and drinks in shops and pizzerias, which they destroyed, and went to sleep in a house where residents were already being evacuated from. There the Russians spent the night and the next day went on. After their visit, the “Fortuna-2” residential complex is no longer recognizable. “Sometimes it seemed that they were just jealous of such beauty, comfort, and living conditions.

After their visit, the complex lost electricity, water, gas, mobile communications, and so on for 10 days. The remaining people live in hellish conditions”, he said.

Maxym left Irpin a few days after the capture of the occupiers to take his family’s belongings, but could not stay and returned to Irpin. He continues helping residents evacuate the city. “When the shelling of Irpin began, I sent my daughter and her mother to evacuate, they took few things with them, because no one thought it would take so long. So, I took them the necessary things, but I could not sleep normally outside Irpin, I was drawn back to those people who stayed there. To the retirees, to whom I brought food that was cooked on the fire in the yard due to lack of light and gas. To those who still want to evacuate, but do not know-how. Families with young children who need any help, as well as those who have stayed and looted, should be punished. The most important thing was to show that it was safe to evacuate because before that people went on foot to Romanivka, they were shot at, they were forced to return home, because of that others were afraid to leave the house and dare to evacuate” summed up Maxym Menshun from Irpin.