Fleeing the war in Ukraine, many people leave their entire lives behind. They go to great lengths to save their pets too.
Kyiv – According to the UN migration offices, 2.5 people have already fled Ukraine, some under the most difficult conditions*. Pictures show again and again: Many manage to transport their pets from the Ukraine. 35-year-old Alisa, who works for a German company, couldn’t leave her dog behind either. She tells her story in The Guardian newspaper.
After a 140-kilometer, 16-hour drive from Kyiv in a Peugeot 207, traffic began to slow down. Alisa suggested that her family – her mother, herself, her sister, two husbands, four children and two big dogs – walk the remaining 17 kilometers.
Escape from the Ukraine war in sub-zero temperatures
“We left at 4 a.m. It was -7 degrees Celsius. It was a tough road, over mountains and past rivers. My kids were crying because it was so cold,” the Guardian quoted Alisa as saying. Her shepherd dog also had difficulties. About 15 kilometers from the finish, the twelve-year-old animal had lost his strength. After every kilometer he fell and couldn’t get up.
Alisa stopped cars and asked for help. But many drivers would have advised her to leave the dog behind. However, she ruled this out. The dogs are part of the family. “My dog shared all the happy and sad moments with us. My mother’s dog is all she has left of her former life.” Alisa’s father died just a day before Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine. In short, Alisa’s husband decided to carry the dog on his shoulders to the limit.
Men of military age are not allowed to flee the Ukraine war
But there wasn’t much relief there either. “My husband was not allowed to cross the border because of his age and the mobilization order,” Alisa explained. He traveled back to care for his mother and grandmother. Only seven people are still in the village, most of them older than 60 years. Due to the ongoing Ukraine conflict* there is no water, no shops, no pharmacy.
How things will continue for Alisa’s family is still unclear, as she said: “My plan is … I don’t know. I want my husband to be here. Now I will first decide whether my children and I want to stay here in Poland or whether I will continue to Germany like most of my colleagues.”
After their final arrival, a new problem will arise: Pets are often not allowed to move into accommodation for refugees. A sponsorship program was therefore recently set up in Hamburg to also place animals from the Ukraine* in the home. (Tanja Koch) *hna.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
