After nine months of its war in Ukraine, Russian soldiers retreated from Kherson, a major city in the south. After Russia said it had pulled back more than 30,000 troops, the region looked like a devastated city with the roofs of buildings blasted off, homes destroyed, debris of anti-mine parts and explosives littering the fields.
The Russian forces have grown infamous for looting its way across Ukraine taking washing machines, electronics and cultural artifacts.
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However, the latest theft from Kherson includes seven raccoons, two female wolves, peacocks, a llama and a donkey from Kherson Zoo, a report in The Washington Post said.
The report said that a private Crimean zoo, owned by Oleg Zubkov, showed him grabbing racoons by their tales and dumping them in cages. The entire incident was filmed and uploaded on YouTube with the title: “We are in Kherson. Oleg Zubkov catches raccoons with BARE HANDS!!!”
The video also showed the zoo owner manhandling the llama into a dilapidated, windowless van. The animals were reportedly being transferred from the Kherson Zoo and being unloaded at the Crimean zoo for ‘temporary evacuation.’
The occupiers stole everything from Kherson: paintings from art galleries, antiquities from museums, historic manuscripts from libraries. But their most prized loot was a raccoon they stole from a zoo. Steal a raccoon and Die. pic.twitter.com/1mqBrrKjHQ
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) November 13, 2022
The video was also shared by Ukraine’s Defence Minister where they said, “The occupiers stole everything from Kherson: paintings from art galleries, antiquities from museums, historic manuscripts from libraries. But their most prized loot was a raccoon they stole from a zoo. Steal a raccoon and Die.”
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky also said the Russians stole animals from a zoo before their withdrawal apart from a trail of destruction, laying mines and going on a looting spree.
Oleksandr Todorchuk, founder of the organisation UAnimals, said Russian troops had taken most of the local zoo’s animals to Crimea. “From llamas and wolves to donkeys and squirrels,” he said on Facebook.
Apart from the animals, around 15,000 artworks and medical equipment from the hospitals were also looted from the war-ravaged Kherson.
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