Lions rescued from private Donetsk Oblast zoo could move to UK before Christmas

A lioness, Aysa, who was rescued from a zoo in war-torn eastern Ukraine, might find a new home in the U.K. along with her cubs, BBC reports.  

Aysa, who was pregnant when abandoned at a zoo in Donetsk Oblast, later gave birth to cubs named Teddi, Emi, and Santa at another facility in Ukraine.

In mid-June, Aysa and her three cubs along with another lion crossed the Ukraine-Poland border after traveling for close to 20 hours. The evacuation of the big cats was made possible through a collaboration between the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Wild Animal Rescue, UAnimals and Poznań Zoo.

Now the U.K.-based Yorkshire Wildlife Park is actively pursuing the necessary permissions to relocate the lions to the U.K., aiming for this move to happen before Christmas. Currently, all four lions are temporarily residing at Poznan Zoo in Poland.

A spokesman for the wildlife park near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, said it wanted to give the lions "a better life and a brighter future."

Military intelligence: 400,000 Russian soldiers occupy Ukrainian lands

“There are enough forces for separate operations in certain areas of the front. And the occupier’s group in Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories, we remind you, is more than 400 thousand Russian servicemen,” Military Intelligence Spokesperson Andrii Yusov said.

The Kyiv IndependentAbbey Fenbert