I believe that these are the good guys: Ukrainian troops defending their country from the maniacal behaviour of Putin who fails to understand what ‘winning’ the war he created in Ukraine means. At this stage in the conflict winning for Putin means raising Ukraine to the ground and killing thousands of Ukrainians indiscriminately. He’ll win but what will he win? A destroyed country costing many billions of dollars to repair over decades and Ukrainians who hate Putin and the Russians and who will never submit to his rule. That was not his objective. He has already failed very badly. And in failing there is much misery and suffering both for people and animals which leads me nicely to this picture of a white cat held by a Ukrainian soldier while another looks on smiling.
The man is being as gentle as he can be. The cat’s expression, for me, is one of resigned sadness at the unfolding events. Yes, I am anthropomorphising the cat but it works for me. This white cat – a suitable colour of purity – symbolises the vulnerable innocents who are the victims in this brutal conflict between ill-prepared young, Russian soldiers led by a psychopathic dictator and dedicated Ukrainian fighters determined to protect their homeland.
When I see the photo, I am reminded of Christ on the cross. It is weird. The expression of resigned sadness at the madness of humankind.
Russians are an ethnic minority in Ukraine. I wonder how they feel? Many are emigrating to Russia overland. They are getting out. They’ve joined the mass exodus of Ukrainian women and children who are getting out via different routes to Moldova, Poland, Hungary and Romania. They predict 7 million refugees.
Russians and Ukrainians have a commonality: there are many who love cats. I think Russia has a higher percentage of domestic cats per human population than the US which is saying something.
The Russians love their cats and have a strong cat fancy (the breeding and showing of purebred cats). But whereas the Ukrainians have the reality of the invasion in their faces, a high percentage of Russian citizens in Russia are fed propaganda via state-controlled television, the main source of news, which dramatically distorts the reality of the war for them.
The vast majority of Russian citizens don’t know that the war is the product of one man’s desire to recreate the USSR and will kill and destroy to achieve it. It is acutely ironic that he calls democracy-loving Ukrainians ‘neo-Nazis’ or plain Nazis while in reality Putin behaves like Hitler invading Poland at the commencement of WW2.
There are some more articles on war and cats below.
Network for animals.org is on the ground in Ukraine providing food, water and medical and are evacuating when they can. But Russia has sent death squad snipers and they are killing anything that moves. 2 Sky News reporters have been shot and are being sent back to UK for medical care. This cat just broke my heart. His face says it all, he’s wondering where his family is. My heart is broken looking at him/her. Go look. I can’t get the picture to post.
Yes, it is a good but very sad picture for me. It kind of sums up the broken human to cat relationship which is often great but too often not so great.