The attack happened when Russian units were advancing on Kyiv and the zoo found itself in “a gray zone between the invaders and the defenders of Ukraine," Polish state news agency PAP reported on Monday.
The zoo’s director, Oleksandr Mashchenko recalled how on March 6 Ukraine’s territorial army had given him and his staff two hours to evacuate the zoo amid the Russian advance. "There simply wasn’t enough time to evacuate the animals," he said.
Mashchenko told the PAP news agency: “The Russians bombed the zoo deliberately; their drones had flown over this area, so they knew exactly what is situated here.”
As fighting raged in the Kyiv region, hundreds of animals were killed, while many others fled for safety to nearby woods and to private estates whose owners had stayed on, according to Mashchenko.
More than 160 ostriches killed
When Mashchenko and his staff returned to the zoo in April, after Ukrainian forces reclaimed Yasnohorodka, the area was strewn with bodies of dead animals.
As they determined later, “over 160 ostriches and some 80 even-toed ungulates were killed, including all of the alpacas” Mashchenko said.
He added that many ostriches fled the zoo and were taken care of by locals, while many roe deer, for instance, survived the fighting in the woods.
It took two weeks to bring most of them back, and the zoo has since provided shelter for animals from other parts of the country, Mashchenko said.
Among them is a buck from the city of Chernobyl, named Bayraktar after the Turkish-made drone.
Zoo reopens
As the staff work to rebuild the devastated facilities, the zoo has reopened to the public, featuring animals such as camels, llamas, Scottish cattle, European mouflons, buffalos and raccoons, the PAP news agency reported.
“Admission is free except on weekends when tickets are sold to fund the food for the animals,” Mashchenko said.
Tuesday was day 153 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP