“Saving the Animals of Ukraine:” An Untold Story of War

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST: And from the depths of war and misery emerges a common cause in Ukraine as they are banding together to rescue people’s pets left behind by those who are forced to flee. Some extraordinary efforts documented by filmmaker Anton Ptushkin. And he joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss why he made “Saving the animals of Ukraine.”

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARI SREENIVASAN, CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, thanks, Anton Ptushkin. Thanks so much for joining us. Your film, “Saving the Animals of Ukraine,” it takes a different type of look at what is happening in this country to the people and to the animals. Why did you want to make this?

ANTON PTUSHKIN, DIRECTOR “SAVING THE ANIMALS OF UKRAINE”: Frankly, it just — we came up with this idea back then in 2022 when we saw in the beginning of full-scale invasion there was a vast amount of photos and videos with people trying to save themselves with their animals, sometimes even risking their lives. And we were so struck by this footage. So, we decided to — just to — you know, just to investigate this thing. And at that time, you know, it was a horrible time. The most dark time I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Because like, I literally saw that I’m going to die next day or another day. And those photos and videos with people and animals, they were some kind of light of hope amidst the darkest time. So, we decided to follow this topic. And two years later, we came up with the film.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The entire world is seeing the depth of animal suffering.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People understand what’s going on. Animals, they don’t understand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Ukraine war has really been an eye opener to many of us as to the complexities of our obligations to animals in wartime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It’s no one’s going to be left behind, including their pets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SREENIVASAN: You introduced us to some amazing individuals, people who didn’t start their lives as animal rights activists who would be surprised to find themselves doing this. But why do you think some of the people who might not have been doing this for their whole lives, why are they now out there taking care of dogs and cats and any kind of animal that they can find?

PTUSHKIN: You know, this war has changed forever. Everyone like, because, you know, I used to be a travel blogger before this full-scale invasion. Right now, I’m a documentary filmmaker. So, I think that all — a lot of people, they started to do something at least because they want to contribute somehow to this war. Again, as one of our talents said that, I can help animals and I just have to do that because I want to help somehow. But I mean, the bravery — we were amazed by the bravery of some people who are literally, you know, going to the frontlines under bombing and trying to save animals or tigers, like a big cats. For me, it’s just an extraordinary bravery.

SREENIVASAN: Yes. Tell us a little bit about it. I mean, you show us a lion that has been rescued and it wasn’t alone. Tell us a little bit about the person who risks her life to do this and what is she finding with these big animals?

PTUSHKIN: This brave woman, her name is Natalia Popova, and she has been saving like big cats. lions, tigers from military active zones for two years. So, this brave woman, she tranquilized these big cats herself and driving from these military active zones to Kyiv or to kind of safe zones. And she — yes, she found this lion called Bretzel. And he was being kept as a — like a pet in a tiny cage. He was under bombardment. So, he had like really severe symptoms of PTSD.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIA POPOVA (through translator): He was under constant bombardment in that confined space, which of course left a mark on him. I don’t want to believe this is irreversible condition. Why am I doing this? Everyone in this war must help in whatever way they can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PTUSHKIN: We, as people and animals, we are shame — share almost the same suffering. So, animals could suffer really severe. And she brought this lion to Kyiv, to a safe zone. But the truth is that there is no safe zone right now in Ukraine. And this poor lion, again, was under Russian missile strike, and he was evacuated — eventually, he was evacuated to Spain, and he recovered.

SREENIVASAN: Yes.

PTUSHKIN: He recovered. And it’s an amazing story.

SREENIVASAN: Yes. So, from the biggest cats, you also have the story that seemed to capture a lot of hearts and minds in Ukraine of a very, very small cat stuck, what, on the seventh floor of just a bombed-out building. I mean, it’s remarkable that it was even spotted.

PTUSHKIN: Yes, it’s actually — it’s a miracle. And not even spotted, but this cat, I mean, he survived during 60 days without food and water. And I ask a lot of people like, how come? How did it happen? And nobody can tell me like, frankly, how did it happen. Why he survived? But the truth is he survived and he become one of the symbols of this war. I mean, symbols of strength and resilience of Ukrainians and the name of this cat is Shafa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Surviving for 60 days. It’s a mystery and a paradox to me. How is this even possible? As soon as they up there, the cat immediate went right to their hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My god, you’re so exhausted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): That’s the real miracle. Of all the animals we rescued, I still don’t understand how this car survived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PTUSHKIN: It’s such a heartwarming story, you know.

SREENIVASAN: Yes.

PTUSHKIN: And for me, it’s just — I don’t know like why we are moved so much by animals, but for me, this whole movie, it’s about, you know, this closeness between people and animals and our pets. And I want to emphasize that, yes, this is movie about the war, but it’s just a heartwarming and kind movie.

SREENIVASAN: Can you tell us a little bit about Patron? I mean, this is this is possibly the most famous dog in the world now. But in case somebody in our audience doesn’t know about this little Jack Russell Terrier, well, what’s so special about him?

PTUSHKIN: He was — before the war, he was just a regular dog, I mean, Jack — regular Jack Russell terrier. But because he is a dog father, dog parent Myhailo, he is a colonel of engineer troops, Sapper. So, his basic job is to find the mines. He teach Patron, when the full invasion started, to — basically to look for the mines. And Patron become like a bomb sniffing dog.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patron’s training began with getting accustomed to the sound of explosions, along with the smell of gunpowder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He quickly got used to the sound of explosions when we destroyed the enemy ammunitions. After the second time, he was already understanding that these are planned explosions and nothing to fear. He went (INAUDIBLE) to inspect the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He passed with flying colors. Within a short period, he had traded in fetching sticks and slippers for sleuthing out explosive objects. Even explosives hidden deep in the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PTUSHKIN: He’s really tiny and he weighs only four kilograms. But in order to trigger the mine, you have to press five plus kilograms. So, he has this like a special ability, you know, he’s just the invulnerable, like a Superman. So, he doesn’t care of the mines. And yes — but you know, the most interesting thing that he’s cheering up the old people of Ukraine and he’s fundraising a lot of money for engineer troops, because a lot of engineers, unfortunately, they continue to blow up on the mines and someone lost their limbs and Patron helps them with the rehabilitation and prosthetics.

SREENIVASAN: You find throughout the film the impact that an animal is able to have, whether it’s on a child who’s healing, an adult who’s healing in their own way, or you even have scenes of soldiers who essentially are still fighting but they’re kind of maybe adopting some of these along the way. Why do you think that is?

PTUSHKIN: I was amazed because I went to frontline and I saw like a lot of soldiers who keep, you know, these stray dogs and cats next to them. And they find it quite amusing, but they do it because I think that it helps, it helps drastically to cope with the stress they’ve been going through. And, you know, just keeping the tiny cats close to you, it means that you are like a home, you’re at home. And, you know, what I can surely say that animals, pets, they tremendously help you to cope with the symptoms of PTSD and with the stress. And we’ve seen it like many times. And I believe that keeping next — keeping animals in your house, it just really helps to — for your psyche, for your mental health.

SREENIVASAN: Yes. You go to what looked like a nature preserve type of area and you showed kind of the ecological damage that the war is taking on, you know, other animals in the environment. Tell our audience a little bit about that.

PTUSHKIN: I’ve been to couple of national reserves. And one of these reserves is close to Odessa, which is the Black Sea, and we were following the scientists who has been investigating the mass mortality of dolphins in the Black Sea. Some of these dolphins are endemic, which means that the Black Sea is their only area of habitat. And we are talking about 5,000 or 10,000 creatures that died at least in 2022, when there was like a lot of Russian submarines and Russian warships, you know, using their sonars. So, I believe that — and scientists speak about that, that the sonars cause like acoustic trauma for dolphins. And that’s what’s caused the mass mortality. But, you know, the real scale of these events are unknown because a lot of areas, they are still under Russian occupation. A lot of natural reserves still are under Russian occupation. So, we don’t clearly know what is happening right there. So, Russia is committing an ecocide for sure. And consequences of this ecocide will be — I mean, they will be tremendous and — but we can’t clearly say right now about the total consequences. Because, again, war is still going on.

SREENIVASAN: In making this film and for other reasons, you’ve been going back and forth to Ukraine now for — throughout this conflict. How have the places that you grew up changed?

PTUSHKIN: I mean, I grew up in Luhansk, in the city which occupied since 2014. So, I don’t have a home right now because, like, my city is under occupation for more than 10 years. And, you know, Kyiv become my second home, but right now it’s, again, under like threats. And while we are speaking with you, I mean, Russians, they are taking attempts to innovate. Like they literally crossed the border of Ukraine again and trying to assault Kharkiv, which is the second biggest city in Ukraine, and they are just like wiping out the city, trying to level it to the ground. So yes, I see like a big threat right now.

SREENIVASAN: So, here you are, you’re promoting this film, you’re talking about it, and at the same time you have possibly friends who you are losing in this war.

PTUSHKIN: Yes. And, you know, again, like this movie for me is attempt to capture these historical moments. But at the same time, you know, some of the talents that I shot, they are they are dead right now, unfortunately. And —

SREENIVASAN: Some of the people you’ve shot for this film are no longer?

PTUSHKIN: In this film. Yes, yes, unfortunately. Because they were — like, literally, I know one soldier, which I shot almost one and a half years ago in Donbass, and he was killed in May 2023. And I shot him with a really funny dog, his name was Peng (ph), and it was a really adorable dog, but after his death, his wife, the wife — the wife of his — of this soldier, she decided to adopt this dog in memory of her deceased husband. And right now, this dog is live like with the — with the wife. Her name was Kate (ph). So, yes, again, for me, it’s just a heartwarming story.

SREENIVASAN: Before this, you were a travel blogger and vlogger. You had a YouTube channel. It was quite successful. People in Ukraine, as well as people in Russia watching and commenting. What happened to that life?

PTUSHKIN: It’s gone, unfortunately. And, you know, for me, the story of Patron is really prominent because, you know, Patron completely changed his life. And for me, it’s really the same. So, yes, I used to be a travel blogger. But, you know, as Mstyslav Chernov, who is the director of “20 Days in Mariupol,” Academy awarded film this year. He said that, I would rather not become — not have become a documentary filmmaker for such a cause. So, that’s my case. I — really, I don’t want to make documentaries about the war, but I have to do it because I can and I want to spread the truth about Ukraine and what is happening right now. And that the fact that war hasn’t finished.

SREENIVASAN: Because you spoke Russian, I mean, you were a little bit of a cultural bridge too, between Ukrainians and Russians who were both watching your channel. What happened when the war started with the Russian viewers that you had?

PTUSHKIN: Yes, I had — like I had a main — my main channel is 5.5 million subscribers. And literally, half of them were from Russia. And I used to speak Russian, but I completely quit Russian. And now, I’m switched to Ukrainian. And like half of my audience — no, actually more than a half, because — except from Russia, there are people from Kazakhstan who used to speak Russian as well. So, yes, I lost kind of my audience. But, again, this is my conscious decision because I have to keep and maintain Ukrainian tradition. And again, language is the tool, is actually a weapon. So, Russia use it as a weapon against Ukraine as a culture, as a tool of culture oppression. So, again, we don’t have a choice.

SREENIVASAN: What’s the consequence been? Is there action from the Russian state government to word or against you, I should say?

PTUSHKIN: Yes, they banned me to enter Russia for 50 years. That’s funny. I mean, that’s funny. I’m banned here. Because I think that they thought that I’m a kind of pro-Russian guy, but obviously, I’m not.

SREENIVASAN: You know, it never fails to impress me why human beings seem to care in a different way when we see animals that are left behind or in trouble. Why do you think that people connect to stories about animals? It’s a different type of connection than when you do a story about the human costs of war, too?

PTUSHKIN: To help such helpless creatures, I mean, I think that sometimes when we’re rescuing animals, actually, animals rescue us. Because, you know, they give us some meaning. And especially during these such horrible events, they — when you lose your humanity, obviously, you know, I will say some — I can sound cynical, but you know, human life become devalued during the war. And you, again, lose your humanity a bit. But animals — saving animals, it brings you back to being human.

SREENIVASAN: The film is called “Saving the Animals of Ukraine.” Director Anton Ptushkin, thanks so much for joining us.

PTUSHKIN: Thank you, Hari. Thank you so much.