When we hear about what’s going on in Ukraine, it’s hard to find much in the way of good news. After all, even positive-sounding stories that have emerged since Russia’s invasion of the nation are underpinned by a destructive conflict that has already been responsible for hundreds of civilian casualties.
But at the same time, that makes those bittersweet stories all the more valuable because they’re a source of hope for those who are already living out their worst nightmares .
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And considering how much comfort many Ukrainians have found in their pets since all of this has started, it shouldn’t be hard to understand why one man and his husky would be so overjoyed to see each other after a scary and uncertain separation.
Until April 4, Bucha, Ukraine was a scary and lonely place for a black-and-white husky named Nessie.
According to People , Russian forces occupied this city between February 27 and March 31.
And as the outlet reported in a separate article, an outburst of conflict during that time separated Nessie from her owners and left her to wander the streets alone.
Since then, however, Ukraine has reclaimed Bucha and a group of volunteer soldiers from Belarus were part of the effort to turn the tide there.
They are known as the Kastus Kalinouski Battalion and in the days after the fighting in Bucha ended, they came across Nessie and decided to rescue her.
Although they initially thought she was a stray, a social media statement statement by the group indicated that it wasn’t long before they realized Nessie had a family to return to.
As translated by Bored Panda, this statement read, “During Bucha’s release we found Nessie, the dog that was left alone. But thanks to our friends, we found her owners and today she returned to them.”
And while her owner wore a wide smile upon their reunion, Nessie was even more ecstatic to see him again.
As we can see in the video that the Kastus Kalinouski Battalion uploaded to Facebook, Nessie sprinted to the man before putting her paws all over him, licking his face, and crying out repeatedly.
She continued yelping as she ran around him. Although we’ll never know what she was trying to say, it was clear she had a lot to tell him.
And after the man shook hands with one of the volunteers who rescued his dog, he embraced Nessie some more and played an audio recording from his phone for her.
Although it’s unclear to any non-Ukrainian speakers what the woman in the recording said, she’s likely the dog’s other owner who couldn’t be there that day.
As for Kastus Kalinouski Battalion, the act of reuniting Nessie with her owner fell well in line with what they’re trying to accomplish.
As they wrote on Facebook, “As long as some treat people like animals, we are fighting for the lives of not only humans but every animal.”
h/t: People
