Fans of Instagram’s famous Ukrainian cat were relieved as they received an update on Wednesday after going silent for nearly two weeks. The account for Stepan wrote: “We’re all right now”.
The 13-year-old rescue cat, who lived in Kharkiv and has more than 1.1 million followers on Instagram, had not been active on social media since March 3. His owner Anna shared no update about their whereabouts until on Wednesday.
The post on Instagram handle @loveyoustepan came as a relief to the feline’s fans as Stepan and his owner made it to France following a lengthy journey via Lviv and then Poland. The account also described the shelling of Kharkiv by Russian forces.
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“On February 24, early in the morning, we were sleeping at home. At 5 a.m., some explosion was heard, and I didn’t even understand what it was. After a while, after half an hour later, there were more explosions, the windows trembled. I jumped up and understood that something terrible was happening”.
Stepan and his owner spent two nights in the building’s basement and lived without electricity for a week before making it out.
In the latest post, Stepan was seen hiding from shells; snuggled in his owner’s light blue, puffy jacket; tucked in his carrier; and looking wide-eyed, as cats often are, out the window of the train that took them from Lviv, after 20 hours, to the Polish border. Anna didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russian bombs hit neighbouring homes and two shells landed in their front yard.
Eventually, they managed to leave the city, traveling 20 hours by train to the city of Lviv before crossing into Poland. With help from the World Influencers and Bloggers Association, they were able to travel to France, the account said.
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“We’re all right now. We worry very much about our relatives in Ukraine and will do the very best we can to help our country”, the account said.
Last year, the World Influencers and Bloggers Association named Stepan one of the world’s top petfluencers, The Washington Post reported. The organization is now renting an apartment for them to stay in.
“They helped us get to France to wait for the very day when we could return home. We’re all right now. We worry very much about our relatives in Ukraine and will do the very best we can to help our country”, Anna wrote on Instagram.
The Kyiv Independent reported in December that Stepan found fame after Britney Spears reposted one of his videos.
