Saving "That Face" 18 Feb 2024 Niu-York, Donetsk Oblast

When Max and I started the day out at 0500, we knew it was going to be a long day. We had to go to both the Avdiivka and Bakhmut directions for evacuations. Both areas are hotbeds of activity for Russian artillery and ground campaigns, and the two most dangerous areas in Ukraine. As we made our way through the day both responding to requests and rescuing targets of opportunity, the shelling was intensifying. The Russians normally increase their firing rate as the day goes on, with predictable breaks for meals at certain times.
It was during one of these hopeful breaks we worked our way through the Bakhmut region. We were focusing on Toretsk, Zahline, and Niu-York to work rapidly. The Russians have made incursions into both Zahline and Niu-York previously, and sit precariously close to Niu-York within a few hundred meters on both the Eastern and Southern flanks. They are increasing the pressure on this small city through targeted artillery and air campaigns in an effort to destroy and cause as much mental anguish on the people as they can.
When we arrived into Niu-York, we met a woman who helps the animals left behind on her bicycle. She rides from street to street feeding both street dogs and pets who, for whatever reason, were left behind. One area we went to was just hit with both artillery and air strikes which wounded and killed multiple people. The scars on the landscape and buildings were still fresh, with windows not even being boarded up or covered. They are constantly hitting the area.
We were taken to a neighborhood that had been hit very hard. Multi-story apartment buildings were cut in half and reduced to rubble. Large bomb craters from air strikes were fresh in the ground along with other artillery impacts. Homes were ruined and debris was everywhere. In the middle of it all were the animals. We saw local dogs who were too scared to get close enough to catch, but we were there to find the ones left in yards and houses.
We started the yard to yard and house to house search and came up empty. There were destroyed enclosures and empty homes where animals should have been. And sadly, there were the remains of animals who had not survived the strikes. As we arrived to another location we started looking. I kept hearing what sounded like a cat under debris. So we tried to call the cat. Fortunately, it came to Max and he was able to grab the cat and get the cat to the van. But there were no dogs as there were supposed to be.
The focus moved to the inside of the house. Looking room to room and moving down the hall, we peered around the corner at the end of the hall and there she was. She was sitting on the couch in what was likely her normal place when this was a normal house. But it was anything but normal. Blast damage was everywhere on that side of the house as a round had landed directly in the yard. The windows had been blown in and were laying on the ground inside the house. Debris was everywhere along with the reminders that someone lived here with her. But they had been medivaced out after the strike. Only she was left behind.
The woman said to be careful with her as she bites and is partially blind. What would have been a normal approach, pet, and pick up became a leash loop around the neck. She hopped off the couch when she heard us behind her, and I got the leash on her quickly. She put up no resistance, no fight, no sound. She was scared to death and seemed relieved to see people. As we were preparing to get her out, I had to get the photo to document her as we do with every animal. And then it came.......
The look.....
The look of "Thank you" was on her face. The look of pure innocence and relief in an environment that was everything but innocent. She gave us those big eyes as if she knew we were there to help her and that it was going to be OK. For her, it was going to be OK since we WERE there for her. We scooped her up and got her out to the van. We had to move a cat to another carrier so she could go into a smaller one up top. She was so scared she peed all over herself and me.
But it was OK. She was safe. We took her to ‪@AnimalRescueKharkiv‬ shelter that night. She is a very sweet girl, and the photo that was taken of her will always sit in my mind and my heart as one of the most memorable ones in two years of working in Ukraine for the animals. It is not the damage, destruction, surroundings, or anything else that makes it so memorable. It is just something simple, pure, and innocent.......
That Face.
We are ‪@GARRescue‬ and helping those in need is what we do
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Your work is very important. Thank you, you are real human beings...as they should be🙏

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