To Save Pets, This Latvian Woman Drives To Ukraine Amid Russian Invasion

JAKARTA - At an animal shelter in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Natalia Horobets said an emotional goodbye to her beloved pet cat Charly on Monday.

With her husband, Horobets leaves their home in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk as Ukrainian troops struggle against a Russian invasion.

But after an arduous journey west in an overcrowded train, they finally decided to give up their pet, concluding setting up a new life hundreds of miles from home would be difficult enough without a hyperactive cat to care for.

"Our journey by train lasted 40 hours," said Natalia Horobets in Lviv, which along with the western part of Ukraine has so far been largely untouched by the conflict.

"There were a lot of people and we were afraid he would be trampled on," she said.

Meanwhile, Rasma Krecia, a Latvian volunteer, is a rescuer who hopes to carry Charly and dozens of other pets across the border into Poland until the war is over.

"We're going to try to get as many animals as we can, back to Latvia, back to Europe, back to safety," Krecia said at Home for Rescued Animals in Lviv, where she loaded three vans with the first batch of dogs and cats.

She couldn't possibly stay in Latvia and do nothing, she told Reuters.

"If I have the opportunity, if I have a big van, if I can bring food here and bring some of the animals back to safety, I can't stay at home."

The Lviv sanctuary previously dealt with stray and stray animals, but since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, it has taken more animals from the displaced people. Now dogs, cats, and even pet mice are vying for attention alongside foxes and storks.

While Reuters was at the asylum, an Lviv resident carried half a dozen puppies that a friend had found in a box at the train station three days earlier, through which thousands of internally displaced persons pass every day.

As Krecia prepares to put a cage in her van, the Horobets say a final goodbye to their cat.

"Charly, my son, you will return home, but you must stay in a different place for now, you will be fine there," lamented Natalia Horobets.

While the husband, Volodymir says they don't know what their future holds:

"We hope that Ukraine will survive and win and we will return home," he hoped.