While thousands of Ukrainian people are leaving everything behind to save their lives amid the Russian invasion, this Ukrainian man is standing on his ground. He is doing the opposite to protect over 400 animals in his shelter.
Source: Andrea Cisternino
This man is Andrea Cisternino, a true hero of rescued animals in Kyiv, Ukraine. Cisternino is an Italian photographer who moved to Ukraine 13 years ago. Here, he met and got married to a lovely Ukrainian woman. The couple decided to build an animal shelter and started rescuing stray animals in the country. At the first days of running the rescue, many people weren’t pleased. The government was even giving people rewards for killing stray dogs. No matter what people said, Cisternino and his wife were doing their job out of compassion.
Source: Andrea Cisternino
Cisternino is a visionary. After the conflict in Donbas several years ago, he was concerned about the war, so he gathered provisions as a precaution. He didn’t expect the horrific event to happen. His preparation was just an extra supply for animals’ safety.
When the thing he had most worried about happened, he was shocked. But still, both he and his wife chose to stay with all their animals. He has heard the gunshot around his area every day from 5 am to 8 pm since the invasion began. But it couldn’t stop him from rescuing and protecting animals.
“I will die here for my animals. I have to think about saving a refuge and its 400 guests who deserve to be protected at any cost.” Cisternino said.
Source: Andrea Cisternino
Source: Andrea Cisternino
Because of his kind-hearted action, many people have spread out his story all over the world. Now, he has over 78k followers on Facebook. He constantly updates photos of himself and animals for his followers to know he’s still alive.