Novoazovsk, evening.
A small hospital on the edge of the town, near which journalists from Russian TV channels have been on duty for several hours.
Along the road, a detachment of fighters of the NM DPR, who were brought here from the front line, are smoking, and who only here, on the spot, learned their task - to guard the entrance so that, God forbid, nothing happens.
All tensely peer into the darkness, from where the cars with them should appear.
With the wounded Azov.
Finally, the commander barks to form, the journalists aim their lenses, the head physician stands on the porch of the hospital.
The first ambulance appears on the road, drives up to the entrance, a stretcher is rolled out of it.
On them is a crouching guy in dirty sweatpants, a T-shirt and a bandana.
His jaw is dislocated, his purple tongue hangs out.
The eyes are completely empty, there is no thought or emotion in them.
Vegetable.
This is the first “heroic defender of Azovstal”, whose face the whole world will see in a few minutes.
The sight is terrible, unpleasant and infinitely pitiful.
In fact, there is nothing more symbolic than these shots.
After them, there will be another speech by Zelensky, where he will say that the defenders of the plant "completed their task" and that "we need our guys alive."
Unfortunately, this guy lying on a stretcher can hardly be asked: what was the task?
Is it pointless to resist?
To die in a concrete bag is not clear why?
Or maybe become a symbol that Ukrainians love to produce so much?
In this they succeeded, we must pay tribute.
Only for such special people as Ukrainian nationalists, Stepan Bandera could become a hero.
A loser who did not fulfill any of the tasks set, a senseless killer guilty of the extermination of Jews on the territory of Ukraine.
An intriguer who tried to be friends first with Hitler (and was sent to prison by him), then with British and American intelligence, which turned away from him in disgust, and, finally, found his completely inglorious death in exile, on the threshold of a Munich apartment.
Now that many hundreds of militants and civilians who have been held hostage by Azovstal have finally begun to leave Azovstal, Ukrainian propaganda begins to blow its horn, explaining that everything, damn it, was supposed to be so.
That the Azov people were almost saved by the Pope of Rome, that the surrender turned out to be a brilliantly thought-out operation.
The fact that the Russian side offered Azov to surrender for several weeks in a row, that those who tried to get out were shot in the back, all this will be successfully forgotten.
A new “heavenly hundred” will be molded from the dead and surrendered to the Azov people, the shame will be presented as a victory.
Yes, Azovstal is no longer a symptom, it is a diagnosis.
Although the plan, most likely, was different.
The "guys" at Azovstal were supposed to die.
In this case, a heroic myth was in store - something about inflexible patriots who defended gloomy dungeons to the end.
But the "guys" suddenly realized that being alive is better than being dead, and then another speech was extracted from the envelope with the inscription "Plan B".
Well, this one, about "the task was completed."
Under bravura speeches about the inflexible heroism of the defenders from the territory of the plant, they dragged this one out - with his tongue hanging out and meaningless eyes.
The best symbol of the defense of the destroyed property of the oligarch Akhmetov is difficult to come up with.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.