A heartbreaking video has emerged of a dog waiting for his owners in Ukraine to come home – as they’re suspected to have been killed.
The animal stands at the remains of their devastated home which has been shelled by Russian soldiers.
But his much-loved owners are feared not to have survived a barrage of bombing from the invaders who have torn apart the country since February.
A video which has been widely shared shows the terrified dog standing on rubble in what was his family home in Dnipro in eastern Ukraine.
The devastated dog has been pining at the huge hole left in the wake of attacks on the city.
Among those sharing the images of the forlorn animal were the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine which wrote: “This dog, Krym, still waits for granny Alla, mom Natasha, kids Vasylisa and Ivan.
“For a day now, he has been sitting, crying, on the edge of a 20-m crater, in the place where his house used to be.”
The Mirror reported last month how a British mum who packs animal supplies bound for Ukraine says the donations are saving abandoned pets from a “scared and hungry death”.
Since the war in Ukraine began in March, Rebecca Renmant-Oliver, a mum and Finance Assistant from Rusper, has packed “four or five” minibuses to the brim with donated animal supplies.
The 56-year-old mum-of-one, who has a family and a job, collects everything from dog food to veterinary examination tables, to be distributed mainly in the Donbas region to help the thousands of animals displaced by the war.
Rebecca, who herself has three dogs, two pygmy goats and a cat, said she got the urge to help after seeing pictures of animals in Ukraine and thinking ‘they aren’t being noticed’.
She said: “From that point I decided I would try to help with the animal side of the crisis.
“I know it’s awful for everybody, but humans understand what’s going on.
“The animals are just being left – some were left tied to the train station because people weren’t allowed to take them on the train with them.
Since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24th this year, some 12 million people have fled their homes.
Many Ukrainians have been forced to leave their pets or livestock behind, while scores of animals have been killed by shelling and Russian brutality on the ground.
Millions more animals have been left behind, with much of the infrastructure housing them gone and the pets and stock left to suffer.
Some were left to starve or beaten to death by Russian soldiers and others became sick, infected with rabies or other diseases.
After posting a shoutout on Facebook, Rebecca found people were “very happy” to donate, whether it was food or toys they had left in their cupboard that their animal hadn’t liked, or collars and leads they no longer needed.
Local vets clinics also donated medicine to aid injured or sick animals and veterinary equipment to supply a shelter in Chernivtsi, where a vet has been brought in to help injured pets or livestock.