The key from the room is the only thing that Dmytro has after the missile attack on the Drama Theatre in Mariupol. The volunteer received a concussion and when he came round a few days later, he found himself in a different place. But he survived! He calls the room key that was left “the key to a new life”.

My name is Dmytro Plaksin. I am from Mariupol. I have lived there all my life, and I am 32 years old.

I have been teaching music. I mean, I am a musician. I have been playing [musical instrument] since I was about 15 years old. I began to teach then, and communicated with my students. I had my friends there. I lived my life and engaged in some spiritual practice. I do not have a family, so to speak. I am single. My mother stayed in Poland. Thank God, she did not have to worry about anything.

She did not know for two months what was happening to me. There was no telephone/Internet connection and I did not have the opportunity to let her know anything. She was ready to come from Poland to save me. I had a lot of things and experiences there. I served [as volunteer] in the theatre. Then, there was a strike at the theatre, and I received a concussion. When I came round, I was in the so-called “DPR” (Donetsk People’s Republic). For some time, I was still at home, and then the Red Cross said that the evacuation began. I thought that I should probably leave because I am not a military man.

I could not join the territorial defence units either because, as I understand it, the place of the meeting point was held in secret. There are a lot of separatists in our city and the administration was afraid that having taken up arms, they would go over to russians.

That is why I did not know where I could do it [join]. I went to the theatre and became a volunteer there. I took my things, came to the theatre and saw a large crowd of people there. They came for the evacuation too. Many people came by cars.

And the mortar shelling began. Incoming mine attacks began and that whole crowd rushed inside through one door. An elderly woman was almost trampled to death there. I saw this and realized that I had to help, explain to people how to behave, and then I decided to engage in organizational matters there. I found the superintendent that the police appointed and we collaborated with her. On the first day, we established a first-aid post. I just walked around the theatre asking if there were any doctors or medical staff among the people present there. We found a nurse. Then, the next day, we set up a kitchen and a warehouse. Well, that is how it started... That is how we established our cooperation with the administration.

People were very frightened. It was clear from their eyes, especially among the older generation, that they were scared.

In view of this, I later found a psychologist so that he could provide his support, and we found a separate office for him. With time, friendship between the volunteers developed. We became just like a real family and this defused the situation to a great extent. In addition, from time to time, one of us would come forward and say, “Guys, calm down. We have supplies and Mariupol is controlled by Ukraine. We will not be taken prisoners there. So far so good, let’s not panic ahead of time.” Unfortunately or fortunately, I do not remember where I was, as after the shell shock, I forgot a few days before and a few days after the strike. That is, I came to my senses in an unfamiliar place. Well, I mean, recovered myself.

I regained consciousness in a different place among strangers, in the dark. Well, then I found out that the guys who were in the theatre took me to another bomb shelter. Well, I had helped them. When they came there, to the theatre, I helped them to settle in. They then took me to another place, when I was shell-shocked.

I do not know how I got out of the theatre itself. I did not stay in the theatre’s bomb shelter. I lived on the first floor because the lower levels were mostly occupied by women and children, and some men too who did not want to give up their place to women and children.

That is why we had a conflict with them. Well, when I came and saw this situation for the first time, that some men were hiding in the basement, while women with children, even with small babies in their arms, remained near the windows... Those were very dangerous spots because mortar attacks happened. I made the first attempt... I wanted to ask them to come out. We agreed with the superintendent but they said “no”. Well, we did not have any leverage over them then. After some time, we created a security/guarding service. I found some good guys. The head of the security was a guy who was from a special police unit. He then left to join Azov [regiment]. He went to Azov right from the theatre.

There were many interesting and pleasant moments. When people came and thanked us for what we were doing. There were unthankful ones too, who constantly complained that we were doing something wrong. Then, I turned to this community and said, “Guys, you have to understand, we are volunteers. We volunteered to help you. None of us gets any money or any bonuses for this. We live in danger just as much as you do. Just get involved in the work, do something and there will be no complaints.” After that the situation changed, they switched on and began to help us more.

Emotionally, I cannot comprehend this. I perceive it from the viewpoint that society has degraded. That is, people, russians, they use so heavy weapons against civilians, they kill women and children striking from airplanes.

Well, pilots are the elite of an army, but their pilots allow themselves to strike at the bomb shelter. This speaks of the complete degradation of all strata of their society, I would say.

This is how I perceive it. A few days before the strike, there were several columns or convoys [of cars] that left. That is, at the time of the strike, there were not 1,200 people there. There were about 600-700 people. That is, one might say that by that moment, the drama theatre was not fully occupied and from 300 to 600 people died, which is still a lot of people. This is a tragedy of a global scale, but not as many people died as it could have happened. This was thanks to the fact that some kind of “green corridors” were arranged – people were able to leave by their cars.

Some people asked others to be given a seat in the car, some offered money for that. These were the situations people were in. When I came there, I felt that a new stage of my life would begin there, and it really did. A completely new life has come. I even feel curious about it...

After the bomb strike, the only thing left was the key from my room. I call it the key to a new life.

I had a situation when shelling began at three o’clock in the morning. I was at home. This was after the bomb strike on the theatre. I stayed at home for some time, although it was dangerous. There were mortar attacks, and I woke up from one of such mortar attacks. The choice I had was like either to stay at home and die from a mine, as mines were hitting right into neighbouring houses. I saw part of the neighbour’s roof flying past my windows. And the second option was to leave at night, in the dark, during curfew hours, which was very dangerous too. If somebody had noticed me, they could have killed me simply because I violate [the curfew hours]. Basically, that was a common practice there. Well, I chose to go anyway. I took a risk. I relied on God and passed through. After I left the bomb shelter, where I was after the theatre, I came home and saw that the roof was damaged. In some places one could see the sky through the damaged roof. The back of the house was hit hard. The bathroom was damaged. It was very much damaged by the blast wave. Air draft. It was difficult to sleep there because the roof was riddled [with shell fragments]. It was cold there too. There was a case when I was shot at. A bullet rang just near my head. It [hit] a metal fence. I turned around and saw that a young man was aiming at me. They told me to come over. It turned out that I did not hear them calling me.

My hearing was affected by the shell shock. They decided to shoot me for this.

When I approached, it turned out that they were very drunk, and they said, “Where you are going? There is a fighting there.” I listened to it and indeed, it turned out that there was some heavy fighting ahead. It was almost in the centre of the city. There were still some fights there. And so he told me, “Don’t come here again, otherwise I’ll kill you.” That was it. Those were the “DPR” soldiers, very young men, from 18 to 25 years old. The mobilization began there. The military who were at the checkpoint near my house told me that mobilization would begin soon. So I realized that I was not going to fight on the side of the “DPR” and I had to leave. I turned to a guy from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which I am a member of, and he helped me to leave. That is, he went through Zaporizhzhia...

We then went to Dnipro, then to Kyiv, and now I am here. Well, it was dangerous even for him because I did not go through any “filtration”, and I would not have passed through it if I had to. I have many acquaintances among the [Ukrainian] military. I have a lot of photos on social networks, which show me performing with Sashko Polozhynskyi in 2015.

That is, we stand on stage with him while the anthem is playing, with flags in the background. If they had seen this, I would not have passed any filtration definitely. He knew it and so he just photocopied his filtration papers and entered my name there. I had fake filtration papers and I left safely thanks to those papers.

We drove in his car. We drove by some roundabout ways. He was experienced in those trips because he crossed back and forth several times and saved people, mainly people from our society. Now he is engaged in saving those who are not from our society. We came along some roundabout way... Well, through many checkpoints. There were a lot of those checkpoints, everywhere, and we were searched often. They ordered us to undress almost completely.  In Vasylyivka, we stood and waited for three days. It was a very long waiting time.

The atmosphere on the Ukrainian land is completely different. The military... Their faces are completely different. They are more humane. It was very conspicuous that there was no that kind of aggression and hatred [in them].

When I looked at a person, I could see that he was fighting for something else, let’s put it this way. Well, then I came to a place where it was safe and good. I am sure that Ukraine will win. I believe that God is on its side. We are on our own land. We did not invade anyone. We did not try to force anyone to do something, or things like that. Well, God is on the side of truth, and I believe that he will help us.