'The cats are scared. They are eating less. I can't leave them'
As Russia continues to ravage Ukraine, an Indian doctor is refusing to leave the worn-torn country without his "children" who are actually two big cats - a leopard and a black panther.
Dr Girikumar Patil is currently living in a bunker below his home in Severodonetsk, in the Donbas region, which you might remember from the early days of the invasion. However rather than flee the country, which we have seen many attempt to do across the UK's headlines, Patil is not leaving his family.
While most would assume his family are humans - perhaps dogs and cats at a stretch - Patil's choice of company is a little less man's best friend and more George of the Jungle. Patil has been in Ukraine since 2007, where he first ventured to study medicine. Later settling down in Donbas, Patil worked as an orthopaedic doctor at a government hospital.
"I will never abandon my pets to save my life. Of course, my family is urging me to return. My pets are my children. I'll stay with them and protect them until my last breath," he told The New Indian Express.
But how did the 40-year-old doctor come across two big cats in separatist-controlled Donbas?
Patil found the 20-month-year-old leopard "orphaned and ill" in a local zoo and with permission from authorities, was allowed to adopt it for $35,000 (£26,460). Patil named the creature Yasah and just two months ago, bought home a six-month-year-old black panther.
Patil told the BBC that he's only left the basement to buy food for the cats but found that prices were steeper than usual, with 23kg of sheep, turkey and chicken meat costing four times the usual amount.
"My big cats have been spending nights in the basement with me. There has been a lot of bombing happening around us. The cats are scared. They are eating less. I can't leave them," he told the BBC.
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