For Ukrainians Forced Into Russia, Leaving Can Be Hard As evacuees from Mariupol and other occupied Ukrainian cities make their way through Russia to third countries, they are beginning to tell stories of their harrowing journeys and of mixed treatment at the hands of Russian authorities. Vlad Shorohov, 25, is a former Mariupol resident. A former reporter and restaurant manager, he was able to escape the artillery-ravaged city by evacuating through Russia to Finland, where he is currently working in construction. Shorohov left Mariupol on March 20 with his mother, grandmother, a niece, and other family members and neighbors after spending three weeks in the icy basement of a high-rise building not far from the Azovstal steelworks. At the time they were without food, water or electricity. The nine people in Shorohov''s group left their shelter after a night of heavy shelling by Russian forces. He recalled learning about an evacuation organized by the Russians from a passerby. They made their way to the meeting place, where the Russian military instructed them to walk single file to a checkpoint seven kilometers away. "We stayed there in the open and under fire for nine hours.