Foreign med student flees Ukraine with his two cats tucked into his coat

Refugees fleeing the outbreak of war in Ukraine are bringing their beloved pets with them, as neighbouring nations Romania, Poland and Hungary relax restrictions on cross-border movement of animals.

Abdullah is one of them but he’s not alone. The foreign 21-year-old future doctor travelled to the Polish border accompanied by his two cats, Stella and Santa tucked into his coat.

Abdullah said: ‘I love this country. I’m so sad that it will be destroyed.’

Abdullah, originally from Morocco, had been studying medicine at a university in Ukraine, and has been forced to join the thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the nation as the Kremlin invasion of Ukraine heats up.

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It took them 26 hours to reach the Shehyni border from Kyiv – an eight-hour drive in normal times – only to find that a punishing new ordeal awaits.

As he waited in line to bring his cats to safety , Ukrainian solders told everyone that they could not go to the border as yet.

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Stuck for days in their cars, thousands of people wait to flee war in eastern Ukraine to finally cross the border and get to Poland.

People with their pets walk toward the Shehyni border crossing to Poland past cars waiting in line to cross the border, outside Mostyska.

Images by REUTERS