Frontline battle cats: Meet Ukraine’s surprising secret weapon | Frontline | Daily Mail

Frontline battle cats: Meet Ukraine’s surprising secret weapon | Frontline | Daily Mail

this is duia she has become a Ukrainian army cat a battle cat as someone described them here she’s hunting or being chased by one of the solders remote controlled cars in an abandoned Cottage that was being used as a company headquarters having fled Russian occupied territory her original owners left duia with an animal shelter in central Ukraine it was there that she was found and adopted by Thunder company of the 4 first brigade the unit was in the process of being rebuilt away from the front line having suffered catastrophic casualties in the defense of BM dusia had lost her home the soldiers had lost the majority of their comrades last Autumn dusia went with them to the copian front line in h which is where we first met her here’s dusia in her unit’s new location in the Chaz ofar sector she’s not allowed outside because uh she’s unfamiliar with the area and a couple of days ago she did get outside and she was missing for 2 days which uh very much upset Thunder company but anyway she’s back here and she’s grounded for the moment but seems to be very happy she is very happy War destroys animals lives just as it destroys people’s lives next you is a living being that reminds you of a peaceful life that does not taught you about the war dusia is always looking for something and lives a peaceful life she needs care affection and constant feeding as if there is no war sometimes it allows you to forget about the war about stress many units have cats and dogs they are our medicine and our joy unlike people they are not treacherous and they are incapable of betrayal a cat called mat plays a similarly therapeutic role for the soldiers of the separate presidential Brigade in their trenches and dugouts on the southern detet front Army cats are not usually to be found around firing positions except those which hang out with the Drone pilots and artillery men who launched their weapons from a little behind the front line St this cat which belongs to an AA Scout unit at the border guards is taking rather too close an interest in the launch of a mavic drone Russ in a nearby Cottage bouth prefers the warmth of indoors it’s minus5 outside you can perhaps see how his presence might remind those combat soldiers of their distant homes and this somewhat surreal Ukrainian video clip appears to show a cat sitting on the lap of an fpv drone pilot as he controls one of the weapons that now dominate the battlefield the juer position of cozy Domesticity and deadly Weaponry is a little unsettling Army cats are reminders of home but they’re also expected to do their own killing in Winter Frontline trenches and dugouts are often infested with rodents we came across pixel and koopy in an artillery Dugout deep in the Copan Forest pixel was a stray kitten when she was adopted by these 41st Brigade Gunners she lives alongside their self-propelled howitzers but has not got used to the sound of shellfire koopy seen here sharpening his claws on The Dugout wall is a champion Mouser the soldiers call him the Terminator all these former domestic pets and thousands like them are emblematic of the war shattered homes and communities that exist across large SES of Ukraine the legacy of Putin’s invasion in peacetime Ukraine was a nation of pet owners particularly cats an estimated 9 million Fel were kept by a population of less than 50 million humans the common sight for male cameraman Jamie wisman and me during the refugee Exodus in 2022 was the cats and small dogs being carried in traveling boxes or even on shoulders among the millions of citizens who fled the fighting this is Charlie mcra a former British army officer who is driving medical supplies from the UK to Ukraine on this trip alongside Wheelchairs and other hospital equipment his van will be carrying large quantities of dog and cat food to be distributed by Volunteers in Frontline areas some will be delivered to the Ukrainian Army inevitably in the Panic many pets were left behind in Frontline areas or had to fend for themselves when their stay behind owners were wounded killed or removed by the Russian occupation forces but some of these red zone animals have since been adopted by or attached themselves to Frontline Ukrainian Army units visit a Ford or a second line Army position and you will invariably find it has at least one resident cat or dog which the soldiers consider to be an integral part of the unit for thousands of years man has exploited animals for Warfare to supply his armies kill his enemies or find hidden dangers today in Frontline Ukraine the relationship between military man and Beast is a little different it’s no longer focused on killing the enemy but on mutual comfort support and as we shall see the healing of psychological trauma it allows both soldiers and animals to forget for a little while at least that they are in a kind of Hell a man-made hell reic is being comforted by a machine gunner from the kaken Special Forces Unit the ginger Tom is scared of the sounds of nearby battle the soldier pretends not to be this is Mera a timid little cat who lost one of her legs to Russian Artillery fire she still won’t allow herself to be petted by the soldiers who tendered her wounds and saved her life being unable to she’s largely depended on them for food but not every abandoned P that has been adopted by the Ukrainian military is a feline Bim was another traumatized stray rescued by 56 Brigade soldiers on the slavian sector not the big dog but it’s very strong dog Bim is very nervous and any Trust humans who wear uniform the soldiers tell us certainly he shies away from us bim’s quite a different dog from bua an abandoned rot Vier who was adopted by the brigades marle kexs like the 41st Brigade they had sustained Dreadful casualties we met bua on the Sloan front in January bua was very friendly to us strangers and the soldiers clearly loved her she was their mascot but then recently and their consternation she vanished C the company Commander talked to us about their relationship with stray animals and the impact of Bush’s loss we feed and often try to evacuate such animals from the front lines just to save their lives bua stayed with us for almost a year she knew every soldier in our unit and every Soldier knew bcha and she was a very friendly and gentle dog who was a comfort to everyone in this unit but she disappeared literally dissolved in the air one evening around 8:00 p.m. when it got dark we saw her playing with another dog and then she was gone several squads of my men searched for her relentlessly but she simply vanished Into Thin Air Loki and not every military pet is a former domestic animal this is Loki an orphan Fox cup found in the Border Forest of Northern harv by the Kraken Special Forces the deep connection and psychologically beneficial relationship between Frontline soldiers and animals has been recognized by Ukraine’s medical establishment many of the veterans have simply lost faith in humanity they trust creatures more than humans which is how we came to meet boss and a number of other unexpected creatures donated by Kev Zoo this is boss a 5-year-old Siberian Persian cross he’s the kind of exotic creature you might see on a fashion Sho in fact he’s part of a medical unit that is helping Ukrainian soldiers recover from trauma I used to we were invited to a military Hospital in the capital that has helped several hundred soldiers suffering from PTSD and other psychological conditions since the invasion Daria is a social worker at the hospital’s Rehabilitation Unit we use the um uh zor therapy uh and um we use the uh speaking with cats because uh it’s uh helping our um Defenders to relax and uh it U uh make a depression lower low yes okay um and um uh we can speak with them better because not always they want to speak we meet three seriously wounded veterans who have undergone Zoo therapy this is Roman his leg was shattered by Russian machine gun fire in August 2022 Sasha lost both his legs to an explosion in the domz Andre was a Furniture designer in ke before he joined up and was badly wounded Roman recalls an instant which demonstrated the close relationship between a military unit and its animals buddy had a situation when they forgot a cat at one Frontline position they covered 160 km to return to pick up the cat it was actually like a combat mission to get that cat back they met a cat at the front lines and in the end they became a family any animal on the territory of this state is by default better than a living Russian even a Viper even a lizard we even love our mosquitoes more than Russians the war has also affected the ability of or desire of veterans to interact with their fellow ukrainians he says the war fundamentally changed the Outlook of many people like me I have observed this in boys and in the same way I myself would sooner serve a piece of pie or some meet to a stray dog and communicate with a stranger basically all the guys understand what they’re fighting for but with civilians we have already become different there are few topics for conversation with civilians those who are not involved in this war and simply live a civilian life likewise I met with friends who were not soldiers and there was nothing to talk about with them for some there was a war and for others there was no war but as soon as you grow sad as soon as you give up that’s the end the uh the uh

Frontline battle cats: Meet Ukraine’s surprising secret weapon | Frontline | Daily Mail

Murka is a timid little cat who lost a rear leg to Russian artillery fire in a frontline village in Donetsk. She still won’t allow herself to be petted by the Ukrainian soldiers who tended her wounds and saved her life. But as she is a stray and no longer able to hunt efficiently, she is dependent on them for food. And so Murka has become a ghostly, hopping presence on the margins of their field kitchen. The soldiers make sure she doesn’t go hungry. Another cat, Dusia, was abandoned when her civilian owners fled the Russian advance and is now under the care of a fire support company of the frontline 41st Brigade.

Reporter: Richard Pendlebury
Cameraman: Jamie Wiseman
Additional footage from: Daria Bahlai, Getty, Reuters and hromadske
Translator: Oleksandr Kostiuchenko
Edited by: Natasha Nellis, Nishan Chilkuri and Lisa Snell
Motion Graphics: Riccardo Fissore

Read the incredible story HERE: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13580625/Ukraines-battle-cats-mice-trenches-solace-wounded-soldiers-trusted-companions-incapable-betrayal.html

#frontline #ukraine #dailymail #russiaukraine #ukrainewar

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