Valiant people of the heroic city: the story of the Agabekovs family Report from Mykolaiv

Mykolaiv is one of the largest economic centres in the Ukrainian south. And it was among the first to be attacked by the Russian army. On the morning of February 24, 2022, the Russian Armed Forces launched missile attacks on the city's military infrastructure and airport. From March 12 to 24, fighting was taking place right on the streets, but then the Russian army was pushed back to the border of the region. For its self-sacrificing resistance, Mykolaiv was awarded the title "Hero City". Among those who contributed to the invaluable defenсe of their native city was the Agabekovs family.

The head of the family Agabekov Zaur Faig oglu was born in August 1969 in the Salyan district of Azerbaijan SSR. After successfully completing high school, he entered the Mykolaiv National University of Shipbuilding.

"From my youth to this day, I have been a fan of the Kyiv Dynamo football club. Maybe that is why the choice of the university was straightforward. Many dissuaded me then, because it was 1986, the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident had already happened and everybody was afraid that its consequences would be felt throughout Ukraine for many years. But I was resolute and did not give up my choice", said Agabekov.

At Mykolaiv University he studied in the Mechanical Engineering Department, where he majored in Marine Propulsion Systems. Completed his studies in 1992, but half a year before the young professional Zaur Agabekov started to work as an engineer in workshop No.41 of the Black Sea Shipyard. By then, the USSR had already collapsed and Ukraine had gained its independence. It was a period when the ties established over decades were falling apart, when, on the one hand, the notorious Soviet "stability" crumbled into ashes and, on the other hand, opportunities were opening up for hardworking people with business acumen.

Zaur also became an entrepreneur, even though it was mainly because he had to provide for his family. He met his wife, Elena Vladimirovna when he was a student. This year, by the way, the Agabekovs are celebrating 30 years of happy family life. The Azeri-Ukrainian couple has two sons - Ramil and Eldar.

Ramil Agabekov studied at the Mykolaiv Gymnasium with an English bias. Knowledge of a foreign language later came in handy for him. His family instilled in him and his brother respect for parents and elders in general, but at the same time, children were growing up independent, and no one restricted them in their choice of path in life. As a result, Ramil had time to take part in various sports clubs, from swimming to football. But the choice was made in favour of kickboxing.

He went training even with a high fever - the boy's eyes were burning and he dreamed of victories. And they came! In 2007, Agabekov won the Ukrainian Kickboxing Championship. Then, already in the national team, he participated in the World Championship among cadets, where he grabbed a bronze medal. In total, for his athletic career, Ramil became a four-time champion of the republic and five-time winner of the Cup of Ukraine in kickboxing, adding two bronzes of the European Senior Championship and silver in the World Cup. In addition, he is a two-time champion of the Super Bowl in full-contact kickboxing and a master of sports.

At the same time, sports didn't overshadow his higher education, and Ramil got a diploma from Odesa Law Academy of Mykolaiv Petro Mohyla Humanitarian University, which is a part of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy complex. Such an education opened up excellent prospects for the young, talented, and ambitious guy. And no wonder that he is now a councillor in Mykolaiv City Council from the People's Servant party, head of its youth wing in the city, and chairman of the sportsmen's trade union.

As for the younger Agabekov, Eldar, he too had great hopes in the sport, like his brother, doing kickboxing. But as a result, having graduated from the Cracow University of Economics, Poland's largest state university, he now works for an international transport and logistics company. "It is Eldar who is our main breadwinner at the moment," said the elder Agabekov proudly, having brought up such wonderful sons.

"Ukraine has been at war with Russia since 2014. There was the annexation of Crimea and the fomenting of separatism in Donbas. We all understood that Moscow had plans to seize as much of our country as possible, conquer it completely, change the government, and then refocus its aspirations on the Russian Federation. But those who were drawing such plans simply did not know, did not understand, and did not feel Ukraine and its people. And here people are ready to live without electricity, gas, water, under bombs, but not with Russia," says Zaur Agabekov.

He, of course, remembers the horrors of the first days of the full-scale war. Russian planes were flying over his house every five minutes as they bombed Mykolaiv. There was shock at first, but then anger replaced it. He realised that the war had come to his native house literally and for a long time. They had to prepare for resistance. It was easier said than done. Especially when the troops of your own country are opposed by a ruthless, brutal and numerically superior enemy army.

"In the first hours after the outbreak of war, the people of Mykolayiv were calling relatives and friends to find out if anyone had been hit by bombs and missiles. At 11 am on February 24, a meeting was held in the building of Mykolaiv regional state administration. Its chairman Vitaly Alexandrovich Kim tried to calm people down, to change the work of urban services in the new, truly tragic conditions", recalls Agabekov.

The purpose of bombing the city was obvious - to intimidate the people. The targets were not military, but civilian objects. It was a deliberate, cynical attempt to sow fear and panic. The plan did not work. From the first day of a full-scale war, the citizens of Mykolaiv started a popular resistance. Everyone tried to be useful in whatever way they could. Someone was making "Molotov cocktails", someone was collecting the necessary number of bottles for them, someone was focusing on providing the residents of the city with water and food. People were setting up bomb shelters, erecting barricades at the entrances to the city.

It is known that on March 2, 2022 Russian troops entered Kherson, neighbouring Mykolaiv, and the next day the city was fully occupied. It is clear that the Russians had in mind to swiftly capture Mykolaiv. But the city withstood and Ukrainian troops entered Kherson on November 11, 2022. This was Russia's biggest defeat in this war.

Of course, great credit is due to General Dmytro Marchenko personally. He actually saved Mykolaiv by organising an effective defence of the city. It should be understood that the occupation of Mykolaiv was important to the Russians because it opened up two important routes to Odesa and Yuzhnoukrainsk, where a major nuclear power plant is located. Marchenko divided the city and its environs into zones. The defence of each was assigned to a specific military unit. To communicate between the territorial defence, military and civilians, several groups were created in secure messengers.

That is how, thanks to the competently built defence and the courage and heroism of the citizens of Mykolayiv, the city was defended. After a complete victory of Ukraine in the war, of which there is no doubt, there will be a lot to tell, which now has to be concealed by the real heroes of the defence. But the locals will never forget how the Azerbaijani restaurant "Shafran", owned by the Babayevs family, gave out free meals to anyone in need for several months. The Azerbaijani owners of the "Kaspi" and "Granat" restaurants did the same. Such things cannot be forgotten.

But how can we forget that for a total of 40 days from the start of the full-scale war until the liberation of Kherson, Mykolaiv was exposed to heavy bombing? "The big problem was that many citizens of Azerbaijan, including elderly people, were living in the city. All of them had to be evacuated from the bombs. So did women and children from mixed Azeri-Ukrainian marriages. Just to make you understand, there are four exits from Mykolaiv. But this was during peacetime, and at that time only one actually functioned," Agabekov said.

He believes that Vitaly Kim has a great deal of personal credit for Nikolaev's resilience. On the most difficult and crucial days, this man found time to communicate with the citizens through a telegram channel. In moments of lack of information, when no one knew what to expect the next second, his optimism encouraged Mykolaiv citizens.

But it has been a hell of a time. For example, on April 12 last year, the water main line between the Dnieper River and Mykolaiv city was cut by the Russians, leaving the city without a central water supply. A month later it was restored, but so far only industrial water is flowing, which corrodes the pipeline because of its salinity. It is strictly forbidden to drink it. But it is better than no water at all. And so it was. But even this did not break the people of the city. They stood their ground. And the problem of water shortage was solved. Thanks to Ramil and Zaur Agabekov, 7 million litres of water was supplied to Mykolaiv, including 4 million litres of drinking water. This is how the real heroes of the heroic city of Mykolaiv proved themselves.

Akbar Hasanov