Three years ago, Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion of our land, launching rocket attacks on the country's cities and breaking through to the capital. Every Ukrainian has their own story of this cruel and unjust war. Denys Minin, the permanent host of the Listen to Violity podcast, has one as well.
Denys was born and raised in Mariupol. Before the war, he worked on television in Kyiv and returned home every year as the host of MRPL City, a music festival that has been held on the Azov coast since 2017.
In the first weeks of the attack, after losing contact with his parents, he began to look for ways to rescue them - and was able to help not only his family, but also thousands of strangers who were left alone in the besieged city.
All this time, the volunteer initiative “Вивеземо!” launched by Denis has been systematically evacuating people and animals from the occupied territories and delivering humanitarian aid there.
Today, on the anniversary of the great war, we asked Denys to tell us his story.
