Zoo staff in Ukraine’s second-largest city were trying to get Chichi, who had been wandering the streets and a nearby park, to return to the zoo with them. But when it started to rain, she ran into a security guard, who put a yellow jacket on her. The pair embraced before Chichi was placed on the seat of a bicycle. Footage of the incident brought a rare moment of joy to a frontline city under daily bombardment by Russian forces. Zoo director Oleksiy Hryhoriev confirmed to Ukraine’s Suspilne public television station that the animal was safely returned to the zoo. Earlier in the war, Chichi had been evacuated from the Feldman Ecopark, a front-line outdoor zoo in the Kharkiv region. The city of Kharkiv also faces daily shelling, with buildings across the northern and eastern parts of the city blackened by bombs. Hundreds of civilians have been killed and injured. The city center, where the zoo is located, has been hit less often since its main administrative buildings were destroyed in March. But last week at least four civilians were killed when a rocket hit the center. Kharkiv regional authorities, which have the grim task of announcing the daily death toll, said on Tuesday that a woman had been killed in the east of the city. Local website Kharkiv News reported that two other women and a man were rescued from the rubble of a building in the city center. A chimpanzee in its enclosure at the Kharkiv City Zoo, where waterfall sounds are used to relieve the stress of animals under bombardment. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Although Chichi still lives in relative danger, she was lucky to leave her former home at Feldman’s Ecopark alive. More than 100 animals died before they could be evacuated, according to the zoo’s owner, Kharkiv businessman Oleksandr Feldman. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Feldman added that six people who volunteered to help evacuate the animals were killed. A journalist for the German newspaper Bild in May documented the killing of a 15-year-old volunteer who had come to the park with his parents and was caught in an attack by Russians. The teenager was taken to hospital under shelling, although the reporter said he was already dead. While his parents mourned the loss of their son outside the hospital, some Ukrainian soldiers arrived with two Russian prisoners of war.
