People are fleeing Ukraine with their pets as Russia's invasion continues
Talia Lakritz
- Russia's invasion of Ukraine began early Thursday morning and continued into Friday.
- At least 137 Ukrainians are dead.
As Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, citizens caught in the crossfire are grabbing their suitcases — and their pets — as they seek safety in bomb shelters or neighboring countries.
Russia continued its attack on Ukraine on Friday, advancing toward the capital, Kyiv. At least 137 Ukrainians were dead as of early Friday morning.
Kharkiv resident Caman Denysenko brought his cat underground into a metro subway station to seek shelter from Russian airstrikes.
Minutes after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation on Thursday morning, The New York Times reported, explosions were visible in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.
A woman held her cat as she walked near the Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi railway station in Kyiv.
In Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, the airstrikes started before dawn on Thursday. Across the city of 3 million people, the sound of explosions, gunfire, and sirens was heard, Reuters reported.
At a metro station in Kyiv, a woman wiped a tear as she checked her phone, cat carrier in tow.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a defiant video on Friday, purportedly from streets of besieged Kyiv, with top government leaders.
"We are all here," he said in a video posted to his Facebook page with the words: "We're in here. We are in Kiev. We defend Ukraine."
At Przemysl train station in Poland, a woman carried her pet rabbit as she stepped off a train from Kyiv.
Many Ukrainians are fleeing to nearby countries, including Poland and Moldova.
As Business Insider previously reported, hundreds of Ukrainian refugees crossed the border into Poland on Thursday, and government officials believe another 1 million could arrive in the coming weeks.
Inside the station, a woman held her cat in her lap as she waited for another train.
Many Ukrainian citizens traveled to the Przemysl train station, which is near the border of Poland and Ukraine, to catch other trains to areas further from the war zone where they have friends or family.
A woman held her phone in one hand and her dog in the other after crossing from Ukraine into Romania.
Romanian Interior Minister Lucian Bode said that nearly 11,000 Ukrainians crossed into Romania on the first day of the Russian invasion, Reuters reported.
Of the almost 11,000 people, Bode said 7,000 remain in Romania while 3,660 people passed through the country on their way to Bulgaria and Hungary.
READ MORE ARTICLES ON
Popular Right Now
Popular Keywords
Advertisement