Meet the cat and dog rescued by a drone from the Ukrainian front line

Gleb Garanich/Reuters

It is common knowledge among Ukrainian soldiers that anyone joining the military will, sooner or later, become a cat person.

Felines are found in the most unlikely places on the front lines. In trenches, at checkpoints, in destroyed homes and at medical stabilization points, they are always looking for some warmth and a bit of food in exchange for cuddles and morale boosts.

But even the most hardened of frontline animals sometimes find themselves in peril. That’s how, earlier this month, the Ukrainian 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade ended up using a drone to evacuate a cat and dog from the middle of the battlefield.

Barsik the cat and Zagybluk the dog made regular appearances in areas held by the brigade before somehow making their way to one of its frontline positions.

Since it was too dangerous for a human to come to collect the four-legged visitors from the dugout, Barsik and Zagybluk got a ride out on a drone. “The guys put them in special breathable pouches, carefully tied them to a drone, and evacuated them,” Nadiya Zamryga, the brigade’s press officer, told CNN over the phone.

She said the operation required special skills from the drone pilot, who had to fly the animals for about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) before landing in a “gentle” way.

14th Separate Mechanized Brigade

Zamryga said the evacuation had a happy ending, as Barsik ended up being recognized by his “cat dad,” a soldier who had been wounded and is now recovering. They are set for a reunification soon, she added.

Zagybluk, meanwhile, is staying with the troops at their rear position, away from the front line, where, Zamryga said, he is thriving. “The stress from the drone flight passed very quickly. These animals have been with the guys for two years and they’re not willing to give up their comrade,” she said.

The determination of many Ukrainians to take care of animals in wartime – even amid the chaos and brutality of the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 – has touched many hearts across the world. As the grinding war stretches into its fifth year, it shows no signs of easing.

Inga Sakada is the director of operations at UAnimals, one of Ukraine’s biggest animal rights groups. It has been involved in evacuations, treatment, and the care of thousands of animals in frontline areas.

“Twice a month, our team of vets travels to the frontline zone and works non-stop, sometimes from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., treating, vaccinating and neutering all the animals brought to us,” she said, adding that as many as 500 to 600 animals can be treated during a single veterinary mission.

Many people who are forced to part with their animals during evacuations know they may not be able to get them back any time soon, Sakada said.

“We had people who were evacuating and couldn’t take their cow with them. We were given a handwritten letter from the owner, in which she described the cow’s character, how she likes to spend time, what she likes to eat, how gentle she is, that you need to talk to her, that she really loves that,” she said.

The cow, called Lypka, is now living in a shelter where she has already won many fans, Sakada added.

The group is constantly struggling to keep up with demand, she said. There are not enough volunteers, not enough places in shelters, not enough people wanting to adopt lost and abandoned pets. Nor is there enough money.

“The sheer number of animals left behind in the frontline territories… in peak periods, we can receive around a hundred requests a day and unfortunately, we cannot cope with them all,” she said.

Not all animals can be saved. The Ukrainian Equestrian Federation said in September that a Russian drone strike had hit a stable and killed several top-ranking racehorses. In October, a strike on a farm in Kharkiv sparked a huge fire which killed as many as 13,000 pigs. And just this week, the head of the Ukrainian government body that manages the Chernobyl exclusion zone warned that mines left behind by the fleeing Russian military in 2022 are killing wild animals in the area, including Przewalski’s horse, a rare and endangered breed.

UAnimals say they have evacuated more than 10,000 animals since the start of the full-scale invasion, including cats, dogs, tigers, lions, camels, horses, cows, raccoons, wolves, donkeys, porcupines, lemurs, sheep and bees.

Yes, bees. Sakada said UAnimals had managed to rescue 13 beehives from a newly liberated – but still mined – village in eastern Ukraine and transport them to Lviv, where their owners were sheltering. The team was stung several times during the journey, but it was all worth it. The bees had originally belonged to a Holocaust survivor who passed them onto his grandson. Sakada said the man cried when reunited with the bees.

While many of the evacuated animals ended up in shelters, others found new loving homes.

Yulia, a Kharkiv resident who asked CNN to use only her first name for privacy reasons, said her 10-year-old son Timofiy was dead set on adopting a rescue cat. So, when members of the 14th Brigade shared a picture of a kitten on the front line on their social media, it was a done deal – especially since the animal was found in Kupiansk.

The eastern Ukrainian city, on the front line of the fighting for much of the past four years, is where Yulia’s parents were from and where she grew up.

It took 20 days for the soldiers to bring the kitten – very small and rather dirty – to Timofiy, who instantly fell in love with him.

The little guy is now known as Andriuliks-Plush, having been called Andriuliks by the soldiers and then named Plush by Timofiy.

Yulia said that, like any self-respecting cat, Andriuliks-Plush knows he is the boss and is not afraid to show it.

“When (Russian) Shahed drones fly overhead, he climbs onto the windowsill and watches where they’re going. He’s not afraid of noise at all, a real combat cat,” Yulia said.

格列布·加拉尼奇/路透社

在乌克兰士兵中，大家都知道，任何参军的人，迟早都会成为爱猫人士。

在前线最意想不到的地方，都能发现猫科动物的身影。在战壕里、检查站里、被毁的房屋里、以及医疗救护站，它们总是渴望得到一些温暖和食物，以此换取拥抱和精神上的慰藉。

但即使是最坚强的前线动物，有时也会身处险境。本月初，乌克兰第14独立机械化旅就曾动用无人机，从战场中央救出一只猫和一只狗。

猫巴尔西克和狗扎吉布鲁克经常出现在旅部控制的地区，后来不知何故到达了旅部的一个前线阵地。

由于人员前往掩体接走这些四条腿的“访客”过于危险，巴尔西克和扎吉布卢克便搭乘无人机撤离。“队员们把它们放进特制的透气袋里，小心地绑在无人机上，然后把它们撤离了，”该旅新闻官纳迪亚·扎姆里加在电话中告诉CNN。

她说，这项行动需要无人机飞行员具备特殊技能，他必须驾驶无人机飞行约 10 公里（6.2 英里）才能以“轻柔”的方式降落这些动物。

第14独立机械化旅

扎姆里加说，这次撤离行动最终以圆满结局收尾，巴尔西克被它的“猫爸爸”认了出来。“猫爸爸”是一名受伤的士兵，目前正在康复中。她补充说，他们很快就能团聚了。

与此同时，扎吉布鲁克则留在部队后方阵地，远离前线。扎姆里加说，它在那里过得很好。“无人机飞行带来的压力很快就过去了。这些动物已经和士兵们在一起两年了，它们不愿放弃自己的战友。”她说道。

许多乌克兰人在战时——即使是在2022年2月俄罗斯全面入侵初期混乱残酷的局势中——依然坚持照顾动物，这种精神感动了世界各地的人们。这场旷日持久的战争已经进入第五个年头，丝毫没有缓和的迹象。

英加·萨卡达是乌克兰最大的动物权益组织之一——UAnimals的运营总监。该组织参与了前线地区数千只动物的疏散、治疗和照料工作。

“我们兽医团队每月两次前往一线地区，不间断地工作，有时从早上 7 点到晚上 10 点，为所有送到我们这里的动物进行治疗、接种疫苗和绝育，”她说，并补充说，一次兽医任务中可以治疗多达 500 到 600 只动物。

坂田说，许多在疏散期间被迫与宠物分离的人都知道，他们可能在短期内无法再与宠物团聚。

“我们遇到一些撤离的人，他们无法带走自己的牛。我们收到了一封牛主人亲笔写的信，信中她描述了这头牛的性格，它喜欢怎样度过时光，喜欢吃什么，它有多么温顺，还说要和它说话，它非常喜欢这样，”她说。

坂田补充说，这头名叫莉普卡的母牛现在生活在一个收容所里，在那里她已经赢得了许多粉丝。

她说，该组织一直难以满足需求。志愿者不够，收容所床位不够，愿意领养走失或被遗弃宠物的人也不够。资金也不足。

“前线地区遗弃的动物数量庞大……在高峰期，我们每天可能会收到大约一百个求助请求，但不幸的是，我们无法全部处理，”她说。

并非所有动物都能获救。乌克兰马术联合会9月份表示，俄罗斯无人机袭击了一处马厩，导致数匹顶级赛马丧生。10月份，哈尔科夫一处农场遭到袭击，引发大火，造成多达13000头猪死亡。就在本周，负责管理切尔诺贝利禁区的乌克兰政府机构负责人警告说，2022年撤离的俄罗斯军队遗留的地雷正在该地区杀死野生动物，其中包括珍稀濒危的普氏野马。

UAnimals 表示，自全面入侵开始以来，他们已经疏散了 10,000 多只动物，其中包括猫、狗、老虎、狮子、骆驼、马、牛、浣熊、狼、驴、豪猪、狐猴、绵羊和蜜蜂。

是的，是蜜蜂。坂田说，UAnimals 组织成功地从乌克兰东部一个刚刚解放但仍埋有地雷的村庄救出了 13 个蜂箱，并将它们运往利沃夫，那里是蜜蜂主人的避难所。途中，队员们被蜜蜂蜇了好几次，但一切都是值得的。这些蜜蜂原本属于一位大屠杀幸存者，他把蜜蜂传给了自己的孙子。坂田说，当这位老人与蜜蜂重逢时，他激动得哭了。

虽然许多被疏散的动物最终被送往收容所，但也有一些找到了新的、充满爱心的家。

哈尔科夫居民尤利娅（出于隐私考虑，她要求CNN只使用她的名字）说，她10岁的儿子季莫菲一心想领养一只流浪猫。因此，当第14旅的士兵在社交媒体上分享了一张前线小猫的照片时，这件事就水到渠成了——尤其因为这只小猫是在库皮扬斯克被发现的。

在过去四年里的大部分时间里，这座位于乌克兰东部的城市一直处于战斗的前线，这里是尤利娅父母的故乡，也是她成长的地方。

士兵们花了 20 天时间才把这只小猫——非常小，而且很脏——带给蒂莫菲，蒂莫菲立刻就爱上了它。

这个小家伙现在被称为 Andriuliks-Plush，士兵们称他为 Andriuliks，后来 Timofiy 给他取名为 Plush。

尤莉娅说，像任何一只自尊自重的猫一样，安德留利克斯-普拉什知道自己是老大，并且毫不畏惧地展现这一点。

“当（俄罗斯）沙赫德无人机从头顶飞过时，它会爬到窗台上，盯着它们的飞行方向。它一点也不怕噪音，真是一只战斗猫，”尤利娅说。