The village of Lisne is located in the suburbs of Kharkiv, 20 kilometers from the Russian border. The social and humanitarian multi-complex Feldman Ecopark is located there. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, 140 hectares of the nature reserve fund of Ukraine were home to more than 5,000 animals and birds (more than 300 species, mostly Red Book).
On the morning of February 24, 2022, at about 11:00 a.m., Russian troops dropped the first bomb on the Ecopark. From the first hours of the war, the Ecopark was cut off from electricity and other communications. Being on the line of fire, the Feldman Ecopark became a "gray zone" from which animals and birds had to be taken out. "We were left with 13-14 employees. Whoever could, came whenever they could. This is the evacuation group, as we later called it, those people who stayed until the last animal was taken out," recalls Vitaliy Ilchenko, one of the members of the animal rescue group. The unprecedented evacuation of the zoo, which was joined by volunteers, lasted almost the entire first military spring. Thanks to the courage of the rescue team, most of the animals and birds were taken away. But this rescue cost human lives. During the evacuation, the Russians killed 6 employees and volunteers. Among them was a 15-year-old teenager Denis Selevin. During 199 days of shelling by the Russian army, 6 employees and volunteers were killed in the Ecopark, more than 300 animals died, and 90% of the buildings, enclosures, and territory were destroyed or damaged.
The movie is available at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/untgUOKcarY?si=uKNLYebMzkYf_kDA
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Supported by the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program of the U.S. Embassy to Ukraine. The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Government.
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