Ever since the Russian invasion began, people in Ukraine have been doing everything they can to flee the land. But Andrea Cisternino, an Italian man who has been living in Ukraine for the past 13 years, has no intentions of leaving.
Cisternino, who established his award-winning animal shelter, KJ2 Italia Animal Refuge, in a location not far from Kyiv, says he doesn’t want to abandon the 400 animals that his shelter has rescued so far.
“It is an animal shelter that was initially for dogs, then also other animals, like horses,” he noted. According to Euro News, Cisternino used to be a fashion photographer in Italy before he fell in love and married a Ukrainian woman.
Both he and his partner have jumped through fiery hoops to get hundreds of animals the help they required and they do not wish to just leave all of them.