March 12, 2025, 11:12 p.m.
(Alina and Bandit. Photo provided by the interviewee)
"Mom, where's Bonya?" was the question Alina Didyk heard from her then-two-year-old daughter Oleksandra for ten months. When the family left for the government-controlled territory of Ukraine, they were separated from their pet, a raven-colored horse with blue eyes. A bandit according to the documents, Bonya to his family. For 12 years, he has been evacuated twice from the Russian occupation: the first time from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the second from the village of Krynky on the left bank of the Kherson region, and survived shelling and "big water" due to the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant disaster.
Alina Didyk was one year and seven months old when she first got on a horse in one of the parks in Simferopol. After that, the girl and the horses developed something more than a passion. According to Alina, for her, horses are not toys or sports equipment, but friends and full-fledged family members.
Alina's daughter Oleksandra also inherited her love and respect for horses. At the age of three, Sasha is so confident in the saddle that people mistakenly believe she is a professional equestrian. And in kindergarten, when talking about pets, along with cats and dogs, Sasha always mentions a horse named Bonia.
Bandit, affectionately called Bonya, is a raven blue-eyed horse. He inherited his unique appearance from his father, the stallion Fantazer. But he got his strong-willed character from his mother, the mare Sonata.
Bona is two weeks old. The photo was provided by the interlocutor
"Sonata was given to me by my father for six years secretly from my mother, and Fantazer appeared in my life a little later. Bonya is a descendant of both my horses, which I was forced to leave on the peninsula. That is why he is especially precious to me. In addition, Bandit was born in 2013, in Crimea, which was still free from Russian occupation," says Alina Didyk.
When Crimea was annexed, Alina was in the 8th grade. Her father took part in the Crimean Maidan, and she transferred to another school, the only one in the city that continued to teach in Ukrainian. After graduating from 9th grade, she moved to Kherson to study to become a veterinarian.
Over the next four years, Alina and her parents tried three times to bring the horses from the peninsula to the government-controlled territory of Ukraine. They succeeded only in 2018. At that time, only Bandit remained in the family, and the rest of the horses had to be sold.
The family settled in the village of Krynky in the Kherson region. They lived on the banks of the Dnipro River, had their own access to the river, nearby was the Oleshky forest, and there was enough space to build a stable for Bona on the land next to the house.
"These landscapes were very reminiscent of Crimea, the only thing missing was mountains. My parents planned to develop local tourism: build modular guest houses, rent boats, and breed horses. "To take care of horses professionally is the most cherished dream of my life. At one time, we even looked for a place to do this in the Crimea. I also bought a dog that I had wanted for a long time, a shepherd dog named Martin," Alina Didyk recalls.
In 2018, Alina left her third year of college and joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She explains her decision as follows: "I realized that I wanted to return home to Crimea. And my only way was to go and fight for my country and land." From one of her rotations in Donetsk Oblast, she brought back her shepherd dog Valkyrie, whom she rescued from the war zone. So the number of pets increased: three dogs, two cats, and a horse. On February 24, 2022, it was virtually impossible for the family to evacuate with such a composition.
"People around us were saying that we should leave. But I said I would not go anywhere. Because I will not leave and betray my animals. I just can't. Once I left Crimea without my horses, and then I didn't know what to do. So I decided to stay here to the last. Although it was on the verge of my physical and psychological limits," explains Alina Didyk.
In addition, Alina met the full-scale invasion in her new status. The day before, on February 23, she became a mother. The girl literally fled from the maternity hospital in Oleshky without an official statement or documents. She realized that the Russian military would not let her out of the hospital. Together with her father, they were traveling along the road along which columns of occupiers' vehicles were moving towards Antonivskyi Bridge. Once at home, Alina hid, did not go anywhere outside the yard. She does not hide the fact that she anticipated that, as a military woman, they might come to check on her.
"The occupiers first came in the spring. They didn't expect to see a baby in my arms, so they didn't touch me. They turned everything in the house upside down, took a collection of knives and a traumatic pistol, and before they left, they made a couple of threats. Then they came several more times: either looking for their deserters or hunting weapons. I realized that my luck might run out someday. But how to take Bonya out?" says Alina Didyk.
Alina says that after the liberation of the right bank of the Kherson region, the shelling of the village intensified significantly. In February 2023, one of the rockets landed in their yard near the stables.
The blast wave blew away a beam, and one of the walls collapsed. The bandit was injured.
"He was standing there covered in blood and shaking. Honestly, I thought Bonya was going to die. All the neighbors came running to hear me scream. Luckily, the examination revealed that he had only minor injuries. One of the shell fragments cut off a part of his left ear and left eye, and the second one flew into his ear and got stuck there. The horse's chest and legs were also cut, but not badly," says Alina.
She nursed the horse on her own, but the vet refused to come. The knowledge from college came in handy. Her parents and neighbors helped her by bringing medicines and supplies. After this incident, Bandit became afraid of loud noises and sudden movements.
Another test was ahead - the disaster at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. At 6 a.m., the pier near the house was already flooded, so Alina and her parents gathered documents, the most necessary things for the child, dogs and cats, and left for their friends in Kakhovka. It was the first long separation from Bandit during the full-scale war.
"I realized that I could not take the horse. I just had to let him out of the territory he had never been out of. Ours and the neighboring plot were enough for him to walk. He was panicked and did not understand what was happening. But he saw the water, so he started running in the opposite direction. I was counting on that. There was no other option to save him at the time," says Alina.
Alina and Bonya. Photo provided by the interviewee
As a result of the flooding, only the outer walls of the house survived, all the inner walls collapsed, and the belongings were buried under the rubble of clay and mud. It was no longer possible to live here, so the family moved to their friends in the neighboring village of Kozachi Lageri.
They immediately converted the garage into a stable. As soon as the high water receded, Alina came to look for Bandit. All this time, she kept in touch with the neighbors who stayed behind. They said that they saw the horse alive, that at first he was running near the forest, and as the water level dropped, he started to enter the village. People gave him clean water, bread and apples.
"Every time we came, we were unsuccessful, and when the shelling started, we stopped searching. That day I left with the clear intention that I would not return without Boni. I had to find him. We arrived at 6 a.m., and he was standing at the gate of our house, as if waiting for me. I put on his bridle and said: "We are going to a new house," and he calmly walked away. My father drove the car in front, and I followed him on foot with the horse. That's how we overcame six kilometers of broken road with damaged vehicles on the side of the road and a Russian checkpoint," says Alina Didyk.
In the fall of 2023, the situation in the village became more dangerous, and the family barely left the basement due to constant drone attacks and artillery strikes. Alina realized that they had no chance of survival in such conditions. So at the end of November, she started looking for ways to get the horse out: she wrote posts on social media, called all the carriers and volunteers, and offered any money for help.
Alina explains that it is not easy to transport a horse over a long distance. To do this, you need to have a special vehicle or at least a car with a trailer so that the horse can be brought up the ramp and secured inside. Because horses have very poor balance. People refused to go on the so-called road of death to Kozachy Lager, because there was a war zone a few kilometers away. Neighboring Krynky, a once blooming and green village, was left with scorched earth, burnt black tree trunks and bricks of broken houses.
Taking an animal out of the occupation also means overcoming checks at checkpoints, making sure all the peculiarities of the documents are taken care of, crossing more than one border to the desired country. And, of course, money for traveling and staying at the stopover locations. So Alina decided to announce a fee for the export of the horse and found people who agreed to take it instead.
On February 20, 2024, with the help of volunteers and friends, they managed to send Bandit to Crimea for temporary rehoming. Following him, the family left the front line in a convoy to the Genichesk district.
"A girl from Mariupol, who had also saved a horse, gave me the number of the carrier. He agreed to take on my situation. The price of Boni's "ticket to freedom" was 7.5 thousand euros. At that time, we had almost raised the necessary amount of money, so we also began to prepare for evacuation. I sent my parents with three cats and a dog first, and I stayed behind to wait for Boni to leave," says Alina Didyk.
Alina left the occupied left bank with her child and two dogs, missing Bandit for two or three days. Their routes were different. In two weeks, the horse traveled from Crimea through Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, and Estonia to Poland. There he was taken in by an acquaintance of Alina's who had taken her horses there from Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
The road to Poland. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Bonya endured the trip calmly, but he lost weight and could not eat after arriving.
"When Bandit finally made it all the way there, I exhaled. The question of further travel to Ukraine depended only on money. This time I needed 3 thousand euros, and I turned to people again. Many people did not understand why I was doing this, why such a principled person? They said, why can't I sell my horse there and buy a new one here? But there were also those who supported and helped to reduce the price. In particular, thanks to the fact that an empty horse carrier was returning to Ukraine from Poland, I paid less, 1800 euros," says Alina Didyk.
On November 23, 2024, Alina received a long-awaited call: "We have your Bonya, don't worry. He is alive, healthy, and adequate. Everything is fine." Two hours later, Alina and her daughter were at his place: hugging, crying, treating him to goodies. She says horses have a very good memory, so Bandit recognized them immediately. In total, the special operation to rescue the horse from Russian occupation lasted almost a year and cost about 10 thousand euros.
Today Bandit lives in a private stable in Kyiv region. Alina and Sasha periodically come to visit him.
"Whereas before, my daughter used to ask all the time: "Where is Bonya?", now she asks: "When are we going to visit Bona?". For a while, Sasha was worried that I had sold the horse because she was used to seeing it every day. I reassured her with a promise that Bandit would definitely live with us again when we manage to create the right conditions for him," says Alina Didyk.
Oleksandra and Boni. Photo provided by the interviewee
The family cannot do this at the moment because they rent a house. The girl does not hide the fact that it was very difficult to find a place with two shepherds, not to mention a horse. That's why Alina dreams of owning a house where the whole family can live with their pets again. And there must be a place for Bonnie's stable, and possibly more horses in the future.
"In fact, my story is not unique. Various animals are taken out of the occupation, but there is little talk about it. I would like my story to be an example. Anything is possible if you have a clear goal and go for it. So do not abandon the animals for whom you are a family and a friend. There is no doubt that Bandit's home is the merit of many people. Someone supported us financially, someone with information, someone morally. And this is extremely valuable. I am sure that despite everything he went through, Bonya always felt loved and waited for," says Alina Didyk.
The work on this material was made possible by the Fight for Facts project, which is implemented with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Ігор Льов, Яніна Надточа