“I know how difficult life is”: Marianna Vyshemirskaya on fake news in Western media and volunteering in Donetsk

- Now you live in Donetsk, but on September 1 you went to Mariupol.

For what?

- I came to a new school, which opened there recently, to give a projector.

When I arrived from Mariupol to Donetsk, my readers in social networks wrote a lot, asking how they could help me.

I explained that I live with my family and do not need financial assistance.

But people continued to offer help, and we decided to redirect these funds to those who need them more.

Just on the eve of September 1, schools were opening in Mariupol - and we decided to give one of them a projector.

— How do you assess the state of the city now?

— I have already traveled to Mariupol twice since my evacuation to Donetsk.

I see progress, a lot of things are being rebuilt in the city: residential buildings, schools, institutions.

For example, apartment buildings from the outside look completely finished.

I spoke with the people who live there, according to them, for a couple of months there has been electricity and water in the houses.

Naturally, this is not such a fast process, but nevertheless Mariupol is slowly returning to civilization.

There are no shellings, and people begin to live more or less calmly, they feel safe.

- In March, your photos were published in the Western media with fake headlines that Russia had launched an airstrike on the maternity hospital.

After that, a lot of negativity fell on you on social networks. 

- When I was there on the eve of childbirth, two explosions thundered near the maternity hospital.

Immediately after that, we went down to the basement, where we were examined by doctors.

Because of the fragments, I received a cut on my head, but a minor one.

After the inspection, they began to take us outside.

I was standing next to the maternity hospital when a man approached me - a journalist.

It turned out that he was filming.

I asked him not to take pictures of me, but, as it turned out later, he still took a photo.

Some time later - the day after the birth - he, along with a colleague, found me in the hospital and said that my photos had already been published and now I must definitely comment on what happened.

In a video interview, they then asked me a specific question: was there an air raid on the maternity hospital?

I clearly answered: "No, it was not."

For publication, they cut my interview and cut out the answer about the airstrike.

And in general, they took from the interview only those moments that, apparently, were approved by their censorship. 

I wrote to that journalist on Facebook * and asked to post the full video of our conversation with him, but he ignored this request.

He also said that I allegedly somehow vaguely spoke about the airstrike, so they cut out this moment, and then completely stated that I didn’t say anything like that at all. 

• The same photo of Marianna at the maternity hospital in Mariupol.

  American and European media published a picture with headlines that Russia allegedly launched a direct airstrike on a medical facility

• AP

• © Mstyslav Chernov, File

-

— I don't panic — I know how to hold on in such situations.

After the publication of the photo, it was important for me to tell everything that really happened then, everything that I saw.

And after giving birth, I understood that I have a small child, I need to feed her and you can’t lose milk.

Therefore, I tried not to be nervous and not let this negativity through me.

- When you posted a video about how you arrived at school, a new wave of negativity hit you on social networks.

What did the commentators not like this time?

- The video showed that I was distributing balloons to Mariupol schoolchildren - white, blue, red.

For me, they were just balloons to please the children, and I didn’t even pay attention to the color.

And commentators began to write that the colors of the balls repeat the Russian tricolor.

Then there were complaints about the projector, they say, why do children need a projector: "It's useless, nobody needs it, it would be better if you were at home."

But what's wrong with the fact that children can fully study in a new school with good equipment, including a projector?

Don't they deserve better conditions?

-

I don't take these words personally.

I understand that most of the words that sound addressed to me have nothing to do with reality.

People are embittered, and it is useless to prove something to them.

I understood how propaganda works: you can assign any words and judgments to a person that he did not say.

For example, you can write anything under my photo, but this does not mean that I said it.

Your daughter was

- I think that at least my daughter's immunity will be very good, because I gave birth to her in difficult conditions.

It was very cold in our hospital: in the corridors where we lay for two weeks, the temperature was six degrees.

I remember that when I had to wash my daughter, I did it with wet wipes under the covers so that she would be warmer.

Probably, when children are born in such conditions, they are stronger and better adapted to difficult conditions.

- Now you and your family live in Donetsk, which is shelled every day.

How do you raise a child in such conditions?

“We try not to leave the house with the child without unnecessary need, because, indeed, shelling is carried out in the city every day.

That is, we can quickly take a walk in the vicinity of the house - and that's it.

It is useful for my daughter to go to the pool, but we cannot go there now.

-

“The most important thing for me right now is my daughter.

I also write in my Telegram channel about what is happening in Donetsk and Mariupol.

Since I have quite a lot of followers on social networks, I can connect patrons and those who need help.

Thus, I try to help Mariupol as much as I can.

After everything you've been through, what do you dream about now

- I'm waiting for the world.

First of all, I am for peaceful people to stop suffering.

Since I became a mother, I know how hard life is given and how easy it is to take it away.

* Meta product, activity recognized as extremist, prohibited on the territory of Russia by decision of the Tverskoy Court of Moscow dated 03/21/2022.