50 pets carried to safety amid shelling by Ukrainian family in Kharkiv

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - A Ukrainian family from the northeastern city of Kharkiv has carried over 50 pets to safety during evacuations, as Russian missile and drone strikes continue across the country.

"Many of the animals were abandoned by owners or vet clinics. They still have no idea how they managed to fit everyone in a small car," Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine's Interior Ministry, tweeted in reference to a program aired on local broadcaster 1+1.

Gerashchenko said some of the pets rescued by the family had already been adopted to new homes.

In the video, the pets were said to have been rescued in Kharkiv, as well as in the Kirovohrad region, where the family had sought shelter from Russian shelling.

"There were 16 dogs. A total of 50 living souls. Rabbits, guinea pigs, parrots, chinchillas ... People ran out, taking everything they could. Anything alive. In cages, aquariums. Everything we could, we took away," one of the members of the family said.

Russian forces have launched a series of airstrikes on the capital Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities over the past weeks.

The recent escalation is seen as an apparent retaliation for what Moscow claimed was a Ukrainian attack on its Black Sea Fleet and a key bridge linking Crimea to Russia.