The wife of a Hero of Ukraine, who fell in battle for Zmiinyi, took in an evacuated cat from the island.

The wife of the Hero of Ukraine Vitalii Ihnatenko, Iryna, took in one of the cats that special forces evacuated from Zmiinyi Island. This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Vitalii Ihnatenko, a sniper and a fighter of the HUR with the call sign 'German', died while defending Zmiinyi Island. He himself was a devoted cat lover and had repeatedly brought them home from the front.

The woman saw symbolism in the decision to take the rescued cat from the island defended by her husband.

'Symbolically, because my husband died on Zmiinyi, defending the island,' said the wife of the fallen warrior. She named the cat Nora.

There are still seven more cats from Zmiinyi at the shelter waiting for their new owners.

It should be noted that the fighters of the Main Intelligence Directorate reported that they carried out a 'non-typical evacuation' from Zmiinyi Island. On social media, the scouts showed that cats and kittens were evacuated from the island.

 'The approaching winter frosts complicate the carefree life of numerous cats and kittens living on Zmiinyi Island. So the fighters of the 'Timur Special Unit' of the HUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, who were patrolling the area, decided to do an important job - evacuated 15 animals from the island to the 'big land,' the report states. The scouts noted that the cats were brought to the 'Sirius' animal shelter.

Thus, in 2022, a kitten rescued by the military from the Ukrainian island of Zmiinyi received a name and a new home. The fighters say the cat became the talisman of the liberated island.

It should be noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated the occupied Zmiinyi Island from the Russians on June 30, 2022. The Russians acknowledged the loss of control over the island, but invented an excuse for this defeat, claiming it was a 'gesture of goodwill' in the context of problems with grain exports from Ukraine.