“What matters is that you’re alive,” my relatives and friends tell me since I evacuated from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv. But it’s not enough. Every time I look at photos of the city I used to live in, my heart sinks.
When Russian troops launched a brutal assault on the city, hundreds of people faced the choice of staying in their homes or leaving – and needed help to do both. But animals also faced horrors. In the neighbouring town of Hostomel, Russian soldiers are reported to have set fire to a stable, burning more than 30 horses alive. Conversely, one man travelled 94 kilometres from Irpin to the town of Korostyshiv, in Zhytomyr, with his two cows.
When fleeing Irpin, many people took their pets with them, but some weren’t able to. In the days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Dima Naumovich, Mariia Kryvenko and Anastasiia Trishkina volunteered to help evacuate civilians and animals. During that period, Dima travelled 50 kilometres from Kyiv to Irpin every day to assist with evacuations – until he was hit by a sniper. Fortunately, the sniper missed, only grazing his temple.
