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Cats don’t just provide comfort to Ukrainian soldiers. The four-legged friends fight in the trenches against lesser-known enemies of the armed forces: rodents.

Mice plague at the front

At the front, a plague of rats and mice is apparently causing problems for the Ukrainian soldiers. The rodents eat anything they can get their teeth into, even the hunters’ equipment. The rodents chew through helmets and communications cables, damage military equipment – ​​and thus reduce the fighting ability of Ukrainian troops.

“The mice attack you while you sleep, they get into your things – and chew everything up,” Ukrainian army officer Roman Sinicyn told Politico. “We had to throw away several boxes of food rations because of mice.”

As a result of the rat and mouse plague, many frontline soldiers took in stray cats. Since the cats started living in the trenches, almost all the mice have stayed away, says Oleksandr Yabchanka, a military doctor in the Ukrainian army. They didn’t have to search for long. In many cases, the four-legged friends sought protection from the soldiers due to the constant shelling and drone attacks. Yabchanka says:

The doctor confesses that he wasn’t a cat person before; love only came with the war. About two years ago, a stray cat gave birth to her kittens at its roost in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. The mother and one of her kittens still live by his side, the others have been adopted – or transferred to other trenches.

Spread of diseases

But cats can’t always fight the pests, a Ukrainian soldier, who did everything she could to rid her bunker of mice and rats, told CNN. But nothing would have helped. No poison, no ammonia and even a cat gave up the fight at one point.

“We had a cat named Busia, who initially helped and ate mice. But later there were so many that the cat was overwhelmed and didn’t want to catch the mice anymore. “A cat can catch one or two mice, but if there are seventy of them, that is not realistic.”

Especially in the colder months, rodents look for food and warmth – and can pose a danger to soldiers. Particularly dangerous is the Hantavirus – named after the Korean border river Hantan, where more than 3,000 soldiers became seriously ill after being infected during the Korean War (1950-1953). The viruses are transmitted through the saliva, feces or urine of infected rodents. Infection can occur through bites or by inhaling contaminated dust. The infection progresses differently. Deaths are rare.

As Ukraine enters another winter and temperatures continue to drop, the problem is likely to get worse, estimates Ihor Zahorodniuk, a researcher at the National Museum of National History of Ukraine. “It’s getting colder and colder and they’re going into the trenches more and more.”

Memories of the First World War

The messages are reminiscent of the First World War, which developed into a trench war. The trenches stretched across Europe. Even in the field hospitals, sanitary conditions were catastrophic. Only the so-called gravediggers – the rats and mice – felt comfortable. The accumulation of corpses led to an explosive increase in rodent numbers and the rapid spread of disease. It is believed that around half a million cats helped soldiers in World War I hunt trench rats and mice.

Cats for fundraising and propaganda purposes

On social media you can find countless photos of soldiers cuddling cats and calling for donations for the military. It’s not always just cute cat photos like this photo that are advertised hateful tomcat Shaybyk, equipped for battle.

The hangover is not one of many in Ukraine – it is known nationwide. Because he helped the army raise many donations, he even received a special award. Shaybyk is also an excellent fighter. “He once caught eleven mice in one day,” says soldier Oleksandr Liashuk, who took the cat into his home on the Southern Front.

It’s not just Ukrainian soldiers showing off their cuddly four-legged friends online. A Russian soldier describes a cat as his unit’s therapist on Telegram. Their purring is soothing and makes you feel at home, the soldier said. According to The Moscow Times, cats are the most popular pets in Russia, with around half of the population owning a cat.

At the same time, Russian media loyal to the government report that Ukraine is mobilizing cats and sending them to the front because the soldiers have new enemies: rats and mice.