Combat Cats: Ukraine attracts pets in the fight against Russia - Rolitico (photo)

Cats usually appear in the positions of the Ukrainian army from nearby villages or cities destroyed by war. Pupils abandoned by the owners are looking for protection against constant shelling, drones and minefields.

"When this frightened little creature comes to you in search of protection, how can you say" no "? We are strong, so we protect the weaker creatures that got into the same horrible situations as we are, only because on our earth with 'with' The Russians appeared, " - explained Alexander Yabchenko, a military physician of the Ukrainian army. Cats and other animals comfort Ukrainian soldiers.

"Some take them and take them home, others leave them in the trenches and even pass them on other parts during the rotation," said Alexander Planon, a spokesman for the United Tavriya Defense Forces. Cats also lead their own battles with mice, which are found in the trenches and interfere with our defenders - chew on Starlink satellite cables and car wiring, destroy food and military equipment and even bite the fingers of sleeping soldiers.

"If cats live in our trenches, mice will almost always stay away," Yabchenko said. Oleksandr Sirsky, the commander of the Land Forces of Ukraine, even has his cat name. The officer of the Ukrainian army and the master of the cat "General" Roman Sinitsyn claims that the name was accidental. "He got this name because he loves cheese. Of course, a cat with the same name as our general has already become a military joke," Sinitsyn said.

The Syrsky Officer's cat met at a combat assignment in the frontline village, where soldiers lived in an abandoned house throughout the mice. "Most locals were evacuated and the cats were left alone. We caught Syrsky and persuaded him to stay with us. He helped solve our problem with mice," Sinitsyn said. Ukrainian military Oleksandr Lyashuk became the owner of Kot Sibyk - one of four homeless kittens who lived in part on the Southern Front in 2022. "The washer is very charismatic.

It became cold, so one night I took it with my sleeping bag. And that's when I fell in love with this cat. He is not just my best friend, he was my son," he said. Lyashuk describes his cat as a perfect hunter. "One day we were in the forest, and he caught 11 mice in the day. Sometimes he brings mice into my sleeping bag," he praised. Despite their connection, Sibik remains a free cat, but always returned to Lyashuk.

In June, he disappeared for 18 days until he was found by Ukrainian soldiers a few kilometers from the owner. "He just needed a little love. I call it a holiday," Lyashuk said. Alexander Yabchenko says he was never a basket. But the situation changed two years ago, when he met Carolina, which appeared in the position of its part in the village of Serebryanka, Donetsk region. "One day, Karolina jumped to our berth, although she was not allowed. We started to swear. But suddenly she began to give birth.

So we had a family of six cats," Yabchenko said. During the rotation of Carolina and her kittens, they moved with the Yabchenko detachment until they grew up so much that they could be fitted. "We quickly found them a home. But Caroline and her white kitten Khonor stayed with me. I took them to Lviv, to my hometown. My mother was so glad that she had two front cats," - said the military medic.

A year later, a small dog of the scream was joined to the cat's cat gang, whom Yabchenko picked up under Kupyansk Kharkiv region. "Now we are never bored at home," he said. Unlike homeless, heraldry, known as Gerich, is a cat aristocrat. As Russia invaded, Gerich, Scottish, joined his owner Kirill Lukov, a military coordinator of the Charitable Foundation Sergey Pritula, who delivers supplies to the leading parts. Gerich went to the front more than 20 times.