Cat and five kittens rescued from occupied Oleshky in drone evacuation across Dnipro River

Ukrainian troops have used a drone to evacuate six cats from Russian-occupied Oleshky in Kherson Oblast. The pets travelled over 10 km in the air.

Source: Oleksandr Pivnenko, Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine; Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs

Details: The rescue operation was carried out by service members from the Bolharychi special-purpose attack UAV company.

Left without owners for various reasons, the cats risked being left to fend for themselves on the streets and starve in temporarily occupied Oleshky.

Quote from Pivnenko: "Thanks to the help of local residents, we managed to evacuate six cats, all born during the occupation, in an unusual operation. They were placed in a cage specially designed for the operation, and our soldiers carried them across the Dnipro beneath a heavy bomber drone."

More details: The cat and her five kittens were transported slowly so they would not feel unwell, the commander of the Bolharychi company told Suspilne, a Ukrainian public broadcaster. During the evacuation, the military monitored the sky to ensure the drone was not shot down.

The cats travelled over 10 km by air to the location where they were met by National Guard soldiers.

Representatives of Kherson Oblast Military Administration will help rehome the cats, the commander of the Bolharychi company said.

Quote from Pivnenko: "They landed safe and sound, though perhaps a little scared, so the operation codenamed Tiger was a success. All the kitties will soon find new homes."

Background: The Ukrainian military previously used a drone to evacuate a cat with five kittens from their positions. The special operation was codenamed Meow-Meow.

Ukrainian soldiers also evacuated a cat and a dog from frontline positions using an unmanned aerial vehicle which flew the animals 12 km to safety.

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