A Ukrainian who embarked on a dangerous journey running away from his country devastated by war in Romania he was rescued from a deep mountain ravine in sub-zero temperatures with an unlikely companion: his few-month-old kitten named Peach.
More than a dozen rescuers worked in a heavy snowstorm to save Vladislav Duda, 28, who last week was found “soaked and frozen” and severely hypothermic in a 400-meter (437-yard) ravine depth in the northern region of Maramures. mountain rescue service of the region. Duda had fled Ukraine to avoid being drafted into his country’s armed forces fighting Russia.
“The cat was hot and I was warming him up … so it saved his life,” Dan Benga, director of the Maramures mountain rescue service, told The Associated Press. “The only thing we’ve seen him care about is the cat. He doesn’t care about himself.”
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When the rescue team located and found the Ukrainian, they unzipped his jacket and discovered that Peach was hiding inside. Benga remembers asking Duda if he was okay, to which he replied: “I’m happy because my cat is alive. I got God’s chance for a new life. The happiest moment is because the cat is here with me”, Benga. Duda recalled saying.
The chestnut-colored kitten, a cat named “Peach” in Ukrainian, was experiencing the effects of malnutrition after four days earlier they went without food and melted snow helped keep him alive.
“It’s like a dream, after everything I’ve been through, I was just hoping to be found and survive,” Duda, who was working as a journalist in Ukraine, told the AP. “Peach kept my heart warm and kept my faith alive.”
A recovery helicopter was initially launched, but was called off due to hazardous weather that made visibility difficult. Ground rescuers then embarked on a grueling mission through deep snow and temperatures as low as -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) until they reached the pair.
During the complex ascent of the ravine that lasted more than five hours, the Ukrainian did not let go of his kitty. He held Peach to his chest “from the bottom up … until we got him into the ambulance,” Benga said. “He just said ‘Please take care of the cat’.”
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Close to freezing, Duda is receiving anti-inflammatory drugs and blood circulation treatment, said Izabella Kiskasza, who runs a community center for Ukrainian refugees in Maramures and is helping the duo. Peach received veterinary treatment in Baia Mare on Monday and is expected to make a full recovery.
Duda left his home in Ukraine’s war-torn Kharkiv region more than a week before becoming stranded with his feline companion in the Carpathian mountain range, which straddles the northern from Romania and south-west Ukraine.
While Peach is the first feline rescued from Romania’s mountainous region, Duda is just one of many Ukrainian men who have risked their lives traversing the harsh conditions of the mountains to avoid being drafted into their country’s war with Russia.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, more than 160 Ukrainian men have been rescued from Romania’s Maramures region, and the numbers have doubled every year since then, Benga said. 16 more have been found dead.
Two other Ukrainian draft-age men were rescued by helicopter the same day as Duda, he said.
“There are a lot of people who come, but they don’t have any medical problems … and they don’t ask for help,” Benga said. “People who ask for help are in the last hours of their lives.”
Ukraine has taken steps to expand its pool of men eligible for conscription, but the efforts have only scratched the surface against a much larger Russian military. In April, Ukraine’s parliament passed a law lowering the eligible age for men from 27 to 25.
desertion it is also starving the Ukrainian military of desperately needed manpower at a crucial time in its war with Russia. The United States, which has also urged Ukraine to recruit more troops and allow the recruitment of 18-year-olds, announced on Saturday a new $988 million military aid package for Ukraine in its war with Russia as Washington s ‘strives to provide aid to Kiev. before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“What I remember is the fear of the unknown and the fear of not making it through the night alive,” Duda recalled Monday. “My peach kept me alive. When we escaped we were afraid of everyone, lest we be sent back to fight a war that is not ours.”
According to the United Nationsthere are nearly 4 million internally displaced people in Ukraine and 6.8 million refugees from Ukraine have been registered worldwide as of November 2024.
According to the animal welfare group Four Legsthousands of pet dogs and cats have been lost or abandoned since the start of the war. In 2022, a German organization set up a shelter on the border between Ukraine and Poland help rescue stranded pets