Maine Coon, Max, stolen by Russian troops in Bucha, Ukraine during the war

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NEWS AND COMMENT-UKRAINE: I am afraid that the reporting of this story is sadly disjointed and unclear. I really can't make sense of it except for parts of it. I will do my best to retell it. 

Max, a Maine Coon, was stolen by the Russians when they departed Bucha, Ukraine
Max, a Maine Coon, was stolen by the Russians when they departed Bucha, Ukraine. Photo: Twitter.

Max is an eight-year-old ginger tabby Maine Coon. He was living in Bucha with his owners: Olena, her husband and their 18-month-old son. They lived about 3 km from Hostomel Airport. You may remember that the Russians tried to capture the airport at the end of February. There was bombing and it affected Olena and her husband.

Note: This is an embedded tweet. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it. Sometimes a link remains to take you to the tweet.

The translation of the tweet is:

This is Max the cat from Bucha. The damned Rusny stole it, but lost it when he fled, somewhere near Gomel. A month later, the owner, who was already in the Czech Republic with the child at the time, called from Belarus, because the cat in the pendant contained all the information. Due to indifference, the cat is already with the owner.

Bucha was then occupied by the Russians and they were very nearby. You may remember the reported war crimes in Bucha. They were reported widely. It is alleged that departing Russian troops murdered a substantial number of Ukrainian civilians. They put hoods over their heads and tied their hands behind their backs. This is being investigated and if enough evidence is collected the Ukrainians might be able to prosecute the perpetrators to war crimes.

It seems that Olena's family that decided to go and they left Max behind. They ended up in Czechoslovakia, as I understand it, as refugees. And it appears that Max survived although their house was completely trashed by the Russians.

Before they ended up in in the Czech Republic as refugees, they called from Belarus (I guess they'd first made their way there when escaping Ukraine) asking about Max. It was about 38 days after they had left their home. 

They believed that Max was alive but discovered that he had been stolen by the Russians. They were told that the Russians had taken Max 300 km in an armoured vehicle together with items that they looted from homes in that village and in Irpin. Apparently somewhere near the airport Max escaped.

Volunteers ensured that Max got to the Polish border and thence to the Czech Republic where he was reunited with Olena's family. That sounds really scrambled and the story is that scrambled. 

I have probably got something wrong but the essence of it is that Max is a good-looking Maine Coon cat who was living in Ukraine during the war where he was stolen by the Russians and eventually escaped and was then reunited with his owners with the help of Belarus volunteers. 

I'm not sure where the volunteers were when they found Max and ensured that he was taken to the Polish border. It seems like an awful lot of activity took place to get Max back to his owners. 

But it is a wonderful ending. It's a shame that he was left behind. He is an amazing good Maine Coon. The genuine article. He looks like a good example of this breed.

Location: Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, 08292

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