A grieving mother asked for his cat. They found a whole family.

A grieving Ukrainian mother, who recently learned her son Sasha had been killed in battle, asked two rescuers for a small thing and a large one. She wanted his belongings and his cat returned from the frontline. She also asked that if the volunteers passed any animal in need along the way, they take it in. "If on your way you come across a poor creature that needs help - take it with you. I will take it as a sign from my son and become its family," she said. Lala and Krystina expected to find nothing alive in the bombed-out area. People had left it long ago. Then they saw movement by the road, a thin mama dog and her puppy. It took food and sleeping pills to coax the frightened pair into the car. The women drove through the night and arrived at one in the morning. She held the cat, and welcomed the dogs. More than 125,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since 2022.