‘We had too much to do to be scared’: the couple who fled Irpin with 19 dogs

Anastasiya Tikha and her husband, Arthur Lee, fought their way through bombs and gunfire to save the array of animals in their care

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The image of a windswept young woman holding tight to the leads of nine dogs under an ominously dark sky spread far and wide at the time of the Battle of Kyiv.

The apparent bravery of the woman, who was attempting an audacious evacuation across a broken bridge targeted by Russian fire, and the vulnerability of the animals, some of whom were strapped into dog wheelchairs, epitomised to many the cruelty of the war being waged by Vladimir Putin and the dignity of the Ukrainian response.