Life seems like it won’t be the same for Stepan, a 13-year-old tabby cat with over a million followers on TikTok. The phenomenon cat’s life has been completely turned upside down since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. The cat had disappeared for two weeks after her last Instagram post, which was sent with a large cheese pizza and a TV remote. And now it has resurfaced on Instagram with a post detailing her and her owner’s escape to safety in France.
“We realized that war had come to our home,” reads a recent post. One of his most recent photos shows him hiding from bullets underground for days. In another photo, she is tucked into her owner’s light blue fluffy jacket and looking out the window of the train that will take them from Lviv to the Polish border 20 hours later.
Like many others, Stepan’s owner Anna says they woke up to a bombardment on February 24. In Kharkov, they spent days in the basement and were without power for a week. Initially, their flat was spared from damage. But that all changed when their neighbor’s balcony was hit, according to Stepan’s Instagram story. They waited nine hours at the border to exit Ukraine.
@loveyoustepan/InstagramAnna is just one of more than 3 million refugees who have fled Ukraine in the past few weeks. This is the largest influx of displaced people since WWII, and neighboring countries like Poland are struggling to keep up with the influx of people fleeing the war as the war continues.
While people take what they can take with them, many try to carry their pets, including dogs, cats, rabbits and other live companions. For example, PETA broadcasts live updates on rescuing animals and providing pet food when needed. On Tuesday, the organization said it had transported 30 dogs and cats from shelters in Kharkov to Poland.
Anna wrote on Instagram, “They helped us go to France to wait for the day we can return home. We are fine now. We are very worried about our relatives in Ukraine and will do our best to help our country”…
