A heartbroken dog was found curled up amid the rubble of its home in Ukraine this morning, after its owners were killed in a merciless Russian missile blitz.
The image has been said to speak to the heartache felt by many across the country today, with the dog’s owners among at least nine people killed in airstrikes by Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Photographs show the little dog, called Elsa, lying on dust-covered bedding in the ruins of the family’s home, which was completely destroyed in the pre-dawn ‘revenge’ strikes.
Three men and two women were killed in the Lviv region after a missile struck a residential area – the first deaths in the far-western city in many months as a result of Russia‘s ongoing invasion of the Ukraine.
It was there, in a village in the Zolochevsky district, that the devastated pooch was discovered by locals, appearing to mourn the loss of its people.
This heartbroken dog was found curled up amid the rubble of its home in Ukraine today after its owners were killed in a Russian missile blitz across the country this morning
The pooch was found in a village in the Zolochevsky district of the Lviv region. A second photograph (pictured) showed a girl wrapping some fabric around the dog before taking it away from the rubble of the destroyed home to safety
Photos also showed Elsa, who appears to be a Jack Russell, curled up in a ball on what looks like the duvet and bed sheets of its owners.
The little dog was nestled on top of a large pile of rubble, with the building behind it was totally blown apart by the Russian missile.
Debris, including bricks and rubble, surround the bedding it’s lying on. With its head and ears drooped and tail tucked underneath itself, the pup is clearly distraught.
A second photograph from the scene shows a young girl leaning down to pick up the frightened animal to take it so safety.
During the poignant moment, she is seen carefully wrapping a cloth around the dog, which reports say had injured its paw.
A heart-wrenching video then shows Elsa limping around the demolished home, desperately sniffing the rubble, one presumes, for any sign of its owners.
Bystanders who discover the pooch try their best to comfort it, stroking it and allowing it to search the area.
The images demonstrate the utter devastation to the house, with hardly anything left of the deceased family’s home.
Pictured: Locals scour through the rubble of a destroyed house at the scene of the missile strike in Lviv on Thursday
Twisted metal and broken wooden beams show that the structure of the building gave way in the blast, causing much of it to collapse.
One of the walls of the building has totally caved, and looking through the building, it is clear that others are by no means stable. In fact, it no longer resembles a building at all – but rather an abandoned building site.
The fate of the small pooch was not immediately clear. A clip showing the dog walking over the rubble suggested one of its paws may have been injured.
Many Ukrainians took to Twitter to share the photograph of the dog curled up in the rubble, pointing to the death of its family as one of many examples of Russian atrocities carried out in Ukraine since Putin launched his invasion in February 2022.
As people slept last night, Russia launched 81 missiles against targets across Ukraine, striking 10 of the country’s 27 regions.
While the missiles mainly targeted energy infrastructure, civilian sites like the pet’s home were also hit.
Police and local residents carry an unidentified body following a Russian strike in the village of Velyka Vilshanytsia, some 30 miles from Lviv, on March 9
Three men and two women were killed in the Lviv region after a missile struck a residential area – the first death in the far-western city in many months as a result of Russia’s on-going invasion of the Ukraine
Moscow has said that the strikes were in response to a border incursion earlier this month, referring to claims that Ukrainian nationalists crossed into the southern Bryansk region and killed two civilians, which Kyiv dismissed as a provocation by the Kremlin.
Ukraine said it downed nearly half of the missiles launched by Russia over at least 10 regions, with fighting raging in eastern Bakhmut.
The death of the dog’s owners were the first civilians killed there in a long time. They were among five people killed in Lviv.
The strikes also killed three people in Kharkiv, and left Ukraine’s second largest city – found in the northeast – without power, water or heating. A ninth man, who was 34, was killed in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk, local authorities said.
‘The enemy fired 81 missiles in an attempt to intimidate Ukrainians again, returning to their miserable tactics,’ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
