Latest news with #NataliaPopova
Daily Mirror
03-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
Rescue operation launched to save 'terrified' lions caught in Ukraine crossfire
Natalia Popova, a Ukrainian rescue worker, said animals are facing 'shelling every day', which has prompted some to fling themselves at their cage bars and refuse to eat Three young lions waiting to be rescued from war-torn Ukraine are so terrified by daily shelling that they are refusing to eat and flinging themselves against their cage bars. The trio are expected to be saved later this month after Yorkshire Wildlife Park get the go ahead. They have been working tirelessly to arrange the paperwork to allow them permission to bring the lions back to the UK. But it is a race against time as workers at the Kyiv rescue and rehabilitation centre warn it is "important" they are evacuated "as soon as possible'. Rescue worker, Natalia Popova, told The Mirror: 'We have shelling every day and I am very scared for the animals. They are very scared. They get nervous, hit the bars of the cage, and some refuse to eat.' Yorkshire Wildlife Park are appealing to the British public to help bring stricken Oleg, Rafael and Shanti, to safety. The centre in Ukraine has rescued thousands of animals since Russia invaded. More than 250 of them have been sent to European countries and the US, England and South Africa. They currently have 44 wild animals including three tigers, two lynx. Park CEO John Minion said: 'We are urgently trying to arrange the trip to Ukraine in order to rescue the lions as soon as possible. It is vital that we get all the paperwork submitted soon, as the ongoing war in Kyiv continues to put the lions in danger.' The trio who have 'survived against all odds' are currently in a Rescue and Rehabilitation centre in Kyiv and are thought to be about nine months old. They have been through hell since they were born with siblings Rafael and Shanti discovered in the Kharkiv region next to their dying mother. The tragic lioness who had been abandoned in a private menagerie and starved. The third lion, Oleg, is all alone after being rescued as a cub from private owners, who fled the Sumy region during the escalation of war. YWP have been told he was raised by humans but desperately in need of connections with other lions. Now The WildLife Foundation, the charity based at the park, is launching an appeal to fund their rescue and the 2000 mile journey to Doncaster. It is the third rescue undertaken by Yorkshire Wildlife Park which has previously seen 17 rescue lions brought to Lion Country, their seven-acre reserves. The park has a history of rescuing lions around the world starting with a mercy mission to save 13 Romanian lions back in 2010. These lions were flown back to the UK after the British public backed the rescue. Sadly Carla and Crystal, the two remaining Romanian lions, recently died. The success of this first rescue encouraged park bosses to take on a second lion rescue in 2024. The Mirror joined their experts to bring Aysa and her cubs, Emi, Santa and Teddi, now nearly 3 years old, back to the UK from Poland. They arrived at the Doncaster wildlife park after travelling more than 2,000 miles across six countries. The lions were found abandoned in the Donetsk region of Ukraine after the Russian invasion. They were left cowering in fear amid the bombs, alone with no food and water. The little pride was taken to a rescue centre in Poland but the cubs had to be separated from mum. For months they lived in concrete pens next to their mum but unable to see the sky or go outside because of a shortage of space. They are now thriving in Lion Country and Aysa has since given birth to three more cubs. YWP CEO John Minion said: 'We are looking forward to welcoming the new lions to the park and proud to be rescuing lions for the third time.' The WildLife Foundation has played a key role in raising funds to support the rescues, transportations and rehabilitations of the lions. Trustee Cheryl Williams said: 'We are extremely proud of our previous rescues, and it is rewarding to see all of the lions settle into their home in Yorkshire. We hope that Oleg, Rafael and Shanti will enjoy the quality of life they deserve here. We would greatly appreciate any donation, however big or small, to help us bring Oleg, Rafael and Shanti to safety at the park.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia, Ukraine begin large prisoner exchange, expected to continue in coming days
Russia and Ukraine have begun a large exchange of prisoners of war on Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said, with around 1,000 soldiers from each side expected to be swapped at the Ukraine-Belarus border when completed. There have been 270 Russian soldiers and 120 Russian civilians swapped for 270 Ukrainian soldiers and 120 Ukrainian civilians on Friday, according to the defense ministry. The exchange is expected to continue "in the coming days," Russia said. The exchange was prepared following bilateral peace talks in Istanbul last week. Though the meeting -- the first direct talks between the combatants since the spring of 2022 -- failed to agree a ceasefire, the two sides did agree to Friday's prisoner swap. Such exchanges have taken place throughout Russia's 3-year-old invasion, though the swap -- once completed -- will be by far the largest to date. Prisoner exchanges are one of the few areas in which Moscow and Kyiv have been able to reach an accord during the conflict. Fierce fighting and long-range drone exchanges continued regardless -- and despite continued U.S.-led efforts to produce a ceasefire agreement. MORE: Russia-Ukraine talks: Prisoner exchange agreed upon, Ukraine requests Putin-Zelenskyy meeting Russia carried out a "large-scale aerial attack" on Ukraine overnight Friday using 175 drones and one ballistic missile, the Ukrainian air force said. Ukrainian air defenses neutralized 150 of those Russian drones, but damage was reported in the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Odesa, Chernivtsi, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, according to the Ukrainian air force. Ukraine's air force on Wednesday reported 76 Russian drones launched into the country overnight, of which 63 were shot down or lost in flight without causing damage. The air force reported damage in four Ukrainian regions. Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces downed at least 162 Ukrainian drones overnight. ABC News' Natalia Popova contributed to this report. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Russia, Ukraine begin large prisoner exchange, expected to continue in coming days originally appeared on
Boston Globe
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘We dream of peace': Three years into war, Ukrainians in Mass. find refuge but worry about future
Popova has settled into a life in Quincy, where she works for the city's school system. She and her children start every morning by speaking on the phone with her husband, who is barred from leaving Ukraine because of a strict Natalia Popova and her two sons. (Natalia Popova) Natalia Popova She is one of the some Related : Advertisement Still, the effects and realities of the war follow them. Most immigrants have loved ones still in the country, and their days are filled with constant worries about their family and friends, some of whom must seek shelter in bomb shelters while immigrants here go about their daily lives. Many said they can't escape the constant, devastating news about the grinding conflict, the biggest on the continent since World War II. It has 'It was the most difficult in the first years — to accept the situation and realize that it happened,' Popova said. 'Like, how could it happen in the 21st century?' 'Of course we want peace, but of course we also want justice for all the crimes done by Russian people,' Popova said. 'We dream of peace, but we don't trust our neighbor.' Advertisement For 26-year-old Marina Zharkovska, who lives in Boston, the immediate fear is about maintaining a legal status in the United States. Zharkovska arrived in the United States in 2024 under a federal program, Uniting for Ukraine, that allowed Ukrainian immigrants to move here temporarily. But since Trump It's important for Ukraine to fight for its independence, she said, given that it has been recognized as sovereign and has 'deep historical roots.' 'We have lost too many lives and our friends to just give Russia what it demanded at the beginning,' she said. In addition to working at a Brookline hotel, she founded a social theater program that helps Ukrainian adults and children traumatized by the war. 'Even here in America, after arriving, I have seen that people are deeply traumatized and do not know how to cope,' she said. Zharkovska, too, said she experiences anxiety from exposure to the war, and wants 'to use her experience to make people healthier and happier here.' Still, every day away from the country is difficult. Like many other Ukrainian expats, Zharkovska has loved ones in the country, including her mother and numerous relatives and friends, some who are on the front lines. She said she prays daily for them, along with those who have died in the war. For Maryna Vernyhora, a 32-year-old Boston resident, reminders of war are present in day-to-day life. After moving to Boston through the Uniting for Ukraine program in July 2022, Vernyhora said she has experienced flashbacks from Russian attacks. She owned her own company in Kyiv that helped people start their own businesses. On the day of the Russian invasion, the company was supposed to hold a grand opening for a business in one of the largest shopping centers in Europe. Advertisement Instead, the single mother woke up at 4 a.m. to what she thought were fireworks outside her window. After her neighbors started calling her, she realized they were missiles, and that she and her 6-month-old daughter needed to evacuate from 'It was like a horror movie, but you don't want to watch this movie because you want to live your normal life like it was before,' she said. Vernyhora stayed with friends in the city of Drohobych for six months. Now, she works as a marketing manager for a pharmaceutical company and is not certain she would want to return to Ukraine. The forest where she used to walk her dog every morning is now filled with land mines, and she said life would not be 'the life that it was before.' 'You ask your friends how they are, and they're sitting for eight or 10 hours in the shelter,' she said. 'It's a part of life now for Ukrainians, and I don't want my friends and relatives to live this life. We want to live our life like it was before — without war, we had a really good life.' Even for Ukrainians who have been in the United States for decades, the drawn-out conflict hits close to home. Marianna Epstein, 68, who moved from Kyiv to Massachusetts more than three decades ago, still has relatives, classmates, and friends in the country. 'Almost everybody has lost somebody,' she said. Advertisement Marianna Epstein, who immigrated from Ukraine more than 30 years ago, at her Newton home. Epstein has family and friends there. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Epstein, who lives in Needham, said she retired from her career as a software engineer earlier than she planned because she wanted to dedicate all of her time to helping Ukrainians. She founded The project is on pause for now, she said, because the 'needs have changed of what we communicate to our politicians.' Almost three years after evacuating Kyiv in March 2022, Popova is now in her second semester of studying health science at Bunker Hill Community College. Each week, her children attend the Even as they go about day-to-day life, Popova and her children still experience anxiety and post-traumatic stress from having to 'live in the basement' due to constant bombing when the war started. Any kind of peace that may be in the future won't bring back the thousands of lives lost and impacted by the war, she said. 'Seeing the consequences of war, seeing broken lives, injured people, killed children, broken dreams and plans of people,' she said. 'Ukrainian voices should be heard, because behind every family's story, every man's life, there are many stories.' Emily Spatz can be reached at
