Thousands of Ukrainians worried about the fate of Mykhailo Dianov when they saw a wounded man with an external fixation device at the factory who continued to fight.

Now he eats the eclairs he dreamed of in freedom after a long captivity and shares memories of his experiences with TSN.

"I'm an optimistic optimist," he says during an interview.  

The world learned about his smile thanks to a photo - Dmytro Kozatsky from Azov under the pseudonym "Orest" took it during the siege of "Azovstal".

The fighter Mishan in a tattered coat, with a shaggy beard, spikes in his damaged hand and smiles.

"How did I survive? They didn't hit me," he insists.

Mykhailo at war since 2015.

Before Mariupol and his capture, he was a grenade launcher in the Azov steppes, then, already wounded, he got to the Ilyich plant and "Azovmash", and from there he managed to leave for "Azovstal".

He fought with one left and most disliked airstrikes on the factory.

"A massive airstrike is expected" and you all stand between some super overlaps and it's not a fighter or an attack plane flying and dropping a bomb there, it's a squadron of bombers flying and bubububububu.

The whole thing is shaking, dust is coming in through the ventilation and we were all wearing masks, it was impossible to breathe," he says about weekdays in Azovstal.

He fulfilled the order to survive by surrendering before being captured.

"There was horror in Olenivka, it's a concentration camp," says the soldier.

Before his release from Olenivka, he was taken out only once to remove the external fixation device.

"They removed the device from me with pliers, without anesthesia, "you're a marine, come on, bear with me", one held my shoulder, and the other removed the device from me. I suffered where I had to. My hand was severely damaged, I rotted completely," says Mykhailo .

Now his hand is missing 4 centimeters of bone.

The marine made an orthosis for his mutilated limb himself and does not allow doctors to change anything.

There were still marks from the tape on his face, it was taped back in Olenivka, and it was removed only when he heard: "Guys, Glory to Ukraine! Gogogogogo. There was a Ukrainian flag, I wanted to cry, but there were no tears," the soldier shares.

Mykhailo is sure that his hand will be restored and he will play musical instruments again.

In peaceful life, he was a musician, he had his own band in Ternopil, and he loved playing the bass guitar the most.

And he also dreams about fishing and how he will start working, opening his metal workshop.

What surprises Dianov after his return from captivity is that he became very popular.

So now he has a new dream.

"I just want to walk around Kyiv, so that no one touches me, go to a store and buy something I really need, I have been saving money for a long time to buy myself some trinket, hang around for two hours and maybe put it on the shelf, because I bought it," - says Mykhailo.

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