Reconnaissance men evacuate 15 cats from Zmiinyi Island

Soldiers of the "Timur Special Forces" of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine who were on patrol evacuated 15 animals from Zmiinyi Island.

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

The ministry noted that these are cats and kittens that lived on the island.

"The cats were carefully brought to one of the largest animal shelters in Ukraine, Sirius, and the rescue operation was supported by the MacPaw Foundation," the scouts said.

They emphasized that after the adaptation of the cats rescued from the famous Snake, everyone will have the opportunity to take one of them and arrange guardianship in the Sirius shelter.

"The head of the special service is known to be fond of animals: he has cats Gunter and Snake, frog Petro and canaries. And in April 2022, after the de-occupation of Kyiv region, MacPaw Foundation volunteers were the first to bring food and everything necessary for animal care to the Sirius shelter," the scouts noted.

The occupants have repeatedly attacked the island with bombs and missiles. Thus, on the night of October 24, Russians attacked Odesa region with TU-22 strategic aircraft. The Pivden' political party clarified that the Russian occupation forces launched a cruise missile, probably an X-22 or X-32, in the direction of Zmeinyi Island from the airspace over the Black Sea. At night, the air defense forces shot down 9 enemy attack drones, six of which were destroyed over the Odesa region.

In August 2023, the military returned the border marker on Zmiinyi Island to replace the one destroyed by the Russian military at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

In early July 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Zmiinyi Island.

On July 20, 2022, the Ukrainian military began demining the territory of Zmiinyi Island. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate, samples of enemy weapons and equipment were found and seized. The military also found a cat on the island that had been there for several months and survived the enemy occupation and shelling.

On July 7, the Ukrainian military planted the national flag on the liberated Zmiinyi Island.

On June 30, Russians fled Zmiinyi after a week-long operation by the Ukrainian military.

Prior to that, Ukraine's heterogeneous defense forces fired more than 10 times on Zmiinyi Island on the night of June 27, including one hit on a Pantsyr-S1 anti-aircraft missile system.

Photo: Ministry of Defense

Кирило Бойко