Meet ‘Gosha’, a pet kitten who Russian defence officials said performs his own combat duties including hunting mice and cheering up the country’s paratroopers on the frontlines.
The footage shows Gosha, a cute ginger kitten who is seemingly oblivious to the chaos of war around him, as he is proudly shown off by one of Russia’s paratroopers.
Another soldier can then be seen petting the cat, who playfully nibbles at his hand.
The footage ends by showing Gosha on the floor, perhaps preparing to hunt some mice.
The images were obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Wednesday, 24th May, along with a statement claiming: “Tula paratroopers, performing the tasks of holding one of the lines in the special military operation zone, showed their pet.
“In life in the field, [they go] nowhere without furry helpers.
“Despite his young age, the kitten named ‘Gosha’ is already performing the task of finding and catching mice.
“In calm hours, he pleases the soldiers of the Airborne Forces and cheers up the fighters with his presence.”
We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 457th day of the full-scale war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February 2022 and 26th May 2023, Russia had lost about 205,720 personnel, 3,796 tanks, 7,435 armoured combat vehicles, 3,384 artillery units, 570 multiple launch rocket systems, 328 air defence systems, 328 warplanes, 296 helicopters, 2,910 drones, 1,015 cruise missiles, 18 warships, 6,161 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 446 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
The authoritarian President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed on Thursday that the relocation of some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus had already begun.
The head of the notorious Russian mercenary organisation Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said that he has begun withdrawing his forces from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and handing over Wagner’s positions to regular Russian forces.
The United States has accused Wagner of supplying surface-to-air missiles to a Sudanese paramilitary group.
Ukraine said on Thursday that it had secured the release of 106 of its soldiers, who it said had been captured in Bakhmut, in a prisoner exchange with Russia.
Ukraine said on Thursday that it had shot down all 36 Iranian-made drones that Russia had launched in overnight attacks.
Russia has denied that a fire broke out at the Ministry of Defence in Moscow after reports in the state-owned TASS news agency and on social media said that emergency services had been dispatched to the building, reporting that there had been a fire at the ministry early on Thursday morning.
TASS later said that there had been no fire.
General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Thursday: “This war, militarily, is not going to be won by Russia. It’s just not.”
But Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev has said that his country’s war in Ukraine could continue for decades.
