Only one cat survived. Russian occupants destroyed a cattery of Bengal cats in Mariupol
We moved to a private house for the sake of cats
In 2014, the Kazantsevs bought a new flat and in keeping with tradition wanted to let a cat cross the threshold first. On a website Marianna saw an ad offering an opportunity to buy a Bengal cat for a mere 100 UAH (at that time almost 10 USD — translator’s note).
"The owner of the cat was a woman from Donetsk who at that point was living with her family in the village of Bezimenne. They were internally displaced persons living in a tent on a sea coast. The cat was kept in the cat carrier practically all the time. She lived with us for 8 months. Then she slipped out into the vestibule and we have not seen her ever since. After some time, we decided to have a pet and bought another bengal cat. We kept on buying them and that is how our cattery was launched. Bengal cats are very gregarious and playful. They are also smart like people and understand everything without words".
After 2 and a half years the Kazantsevs had ten cats. The family lived in a flat where they made a plastic-metal partition in one of the rooms. Marianna and her husband, Serhii, shared their room with cats.
"The room was still cramped and we had to relocate some of the cats to my in-laws into the wing of their house where we used to live right after our wedding. We then made a decision to buy a house so that our family and all the cats would live under one roof. We found a nice two-storied house of 130 square meters. It was nicely renovated with a garage, big terrace, a plot of land nearby and a garden where shrubs and various flowers were growing. We put our animals into a large bedroom on the second floor."
After another 18 months the Kazantsevs had twice as many cats. At their Mariben Cattery a cat was born who became its face. As Marianna puts it, the mission of having brown-colored pedigreed cats was accomplished. They are now planning to breed snow-colored ones.
Marianna’s younger son holding a cat.
"I am not the person who would breed animals for money. I wanted my cats to be special. I will say right away that keeping domestic animals is not the cheapest of the pleasures. For example, a monthly bill for buying food for 22 adult cats and 16 kittens (and that is exactly the number of pets we used to have before the Russian invasion) came out at 500 USD. Plus, we have to pay the veterinarian, for infection tests and tests on genetic pathologies".
Because of the stress the cats would fight until they started bleeding
On February 24 Marianna, Serhii, and their two sons, 5-year-old Daniel and 10-year-old Mykola, were roused from their sleep by the sound of explosions. It is worth mentioning that the Kazantsev’s house was located about 1600 feet away from the base of the ‚Azov‘ battalion. The first thing the couple did was to rush to a gas station and then buy food and water. Of course, a visit to a pet store was also on their list to replenish their supplies of food for cats.
"On February 26, our district was shelled for the first time. We rushed to the basement every few minutes. It was impossible to stay there for long as there was no ventilation. Also, my husband had been tested positive for Covid-19 two days before the invasion. He had fever and it was difficult for him to breath. However, he did manage to drill a hole in the basement that connected it to flue. We placed our cats into 19 cat carriers that we had. Our basement was small, about 8 square meters. However, it had a high ceiling. There were three tiers of shelves onto which we put cat carriers. Animals were stressed out due to their being taken to the basement and out of it many times a day. After I let them out of the carriers, they would pick a fight with one another. They would fight until they started bleeding, sinking their teeth into each other’s necks. I took a broom to break them up".
Marianna says that before the invasion the cats would freely move about the house. However, since they would often fall into the open basement they had to be isolated on the second floor. So as not to torment the cats while keeping them in cat carriers, Serhii filled the windows of the room on the second floor where the cats lived with the first things that came to hand — bags with cat food, sawdust or construction materials.
"In the first days of the invasion, a friend of mine phoned me saying that she could pick me and my cats up at the border in her van. My husband told me to pick the cats I wanted to take with me. And I couldn’t do that since they were all dear to me. I decided to take all of them. I even tried to squeeze 3 cats into each carrier. I bought pills that would tranquilize the most aggressive of them for some time. I was tuning in to a departure mood but the it transpired that we were short of fuel to leave the city. Serhii’s father had not managed to gas up his van".
Rooms where adult cats were living caught fire and the ceiling collapsed right onto the kittens
The cats stayed upstairs while the Kazantsevs would sleep in the kitchen with access to the terrace. Go-and-grab bags were kept at the ready close to the exit. Apart from clothes they were packed with veterinary medicines, diapers, cat food in bags and a rucksack with all IDs.
"On March 2, I was standing on the terrace of my house listening to the sound of flying planes. It was 6:30 pm. My husband came quickly down into the basement and I let the kids follow him. I was halfway there myself when a shell pierced into the house right into the second floor where the cats lived, as though Russians knew what they were aiming at. A fire broke out. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran upstairs. The doors were blown off its hinges, windows were smashed, there were holes in the wall, the ceiling collapsed. Fire was everywhere. The wing where the cats lived was coated with wood, which explains why it was instantaneously consumed by the fire. The partition separating the second floor was partly blocked, which hindered us from reaching it. Being in shock, I had forgotten to put my shoes on, so I was running about barefoot. I then saw that my legs were cut by shards up to my thighs".
At the same moment our garage caught fire. Car keys were in Marianna’s small rucksack in the basement. Inside, there was also her passport and 200 UAH note (about 7 USD at that time — translator’s note). It was everything her family had taken with them since in a panic all their other suitcases were left in the house.
"At that moment our only goal was to save the cats. We literally threw each cat we managed to find into the trunk of our car. They were still alive, having inhaled large portions of carbon monoxide. They had also suffered numerous burns. They were dying from injuries and pain shock. In the end, all of the 16 kittens that were being awaited by their new families, died. When the ceiling on the first floor collapsed, they were in a special playpen. Out of 23 adult cats only one survived, the 3-year-old Nola, and a Pomeranian dog, Miya. They were shell-shocked. Prior to that day Nola and Miya had not been on good terms with each other. However, from March 2 until our departure from the city they were forced to get along with one another".
"My Bengal cats, Oskar, Blackie, Snowy, Kaiser, Daisy, Aisha, Anzhelka, Dashka, Sonya, Maya, Santa, Lexy, Lyusindra, Geneva, Moon, Fiji, Indra, Ella, Natashka, Varya, Caramel and Elya. Rest in peace, my dear friends. One day on the street where our Mar Mariben Cattery used to be located there will be a monument erected in Mariupol to commemorate the killed Bengal cats".
The entire family have been traumatized
Marianna says the windshield of her car was blown out and the shards have penetrated the radiator. Most importantly, tires remained intact. Curfew was already in force and one was not allowed to leave their homes. However, the Kazantsevs drove with the headlights off to Serhii’s parents at their own risk. They heard air bombs whooshing somewhere in the vicinity during their entire trip. The following day Marianna and Serhii came back to the house in hope of finding the cats that had managed to survive. To no avail. There were only walls left from the destroyed house whose remains were bathing in March sunshine.
"Daniel went deaf in his left ear. My husband had also problems with ears. After the bombing, he suffered from severe headache for several weeks. My elder son withdrew into himself and practically stopped communicating with anyone. Like I said, I had cuts all over my legs. I also had back pain for over a month. I hurt it when a blast wave threw me down into the basement".
Our neighbor wanted to boil a kettle over open fire and was killed
At first, the family stayed at the place of Serhii’s relatives. They then went to Marianna’s parents. The Kazantsevs lived in a basement there.
"We were trying to survive as best we could. Children got sick and we went searching for medications at a dentist’s office that was located on the first floor of the building where we were living. The doors had already been smashed down. The last bottle of water had gone frozen, so we warmed it up with our own bodies to quench our thirst and that of our children. The cat and the dog were living in the same carriage. There was not much space inside, but at least it was warm there. We ran out of water on March 16. My husband and I went to the dentist’s office once again and drained all the remains of water from electric kettles. During all this time there was incessant shelling. Shells were falling some 300 feet away from the place where we lived".
On March 17, Valeriy, the husband of Marianna’s sister, was killed. The tragedy occurred in his apartment on the second floor.
The dead body of Valeriy killed as a result of Russian shelling
"Several hours after his death a new round of shelling began. Our neighbor, Zhenya, who wanted to boil his kettle over open fire, did not manage to dash off into the basement. His body just lay there right at the entrance door leading to the residential house. We came out of the basement and saw his body still emitting smoke. Burning fragments of shells penetrated his rib cage, having left an 11-inch-wide hole in diameter. The door to the house could no longer be closed as it had sustained numerous dents. People started leaving the basement. They were scared and it felt even colder because of the icy draught in the basement. We ran out of water. We faced a new task of burying Valeriy. The ground was frozen and we had no shovel. The following morning, we came into our apartment to search for my mother’s cats. She had 2 adult cats and 7 kittens. It took me some time to spot one of the adult cats, Kira. She was sitting atop Valeriy’s cold body, gnawing at it. One of the kittens was found nearby, it had been killed by a shard. Others were alive. The second cat happened to be out of the apartment".
I was released from prison to repent of my sins
By March 19, the basement was abandoned by everybody. There was not a soul around, only the sound of an abandoned dog howling was heard.
"I ran out onto the street calling out for people. I repeated my calls several times. And then I saw a damned tank with the ‚Z‘ letter on it approaching the house followed by infantry. I yelled to them, ‚What’s going on?‘. A young soldier from Chechnya with a patch on his uniform reading ‚Donetsk People’s Republic‘ came up to me saying (as if he were making excuses), ‚I have been convicted three times. I was released from prison to repent of my sins. I did not want to come to you’. He was wearing neither a bulletproof vest nor a helmet. He did not have a handheld transceiver on him, either. His uniform was shabby. He then said that the residential house would be cleared shortly and that I had rather leave the place with my kids as soon as I could".
On the same day the Kazantsevs managed to flee from hell on earth.
"The feeling of imminent death would not leave me. My car was already near the house. We hopped in quickly, shut the doors and left. Whooshing shells, the sound of explosions and rounds of machine gun shots accompanied us all the way to the village of Vynohradne. It was there that the soldier advised me to go. Serhii was at the wheel and every time we came across Russian soldiers holding weapons he would raise his hands. I was sitting with kids in the back seat covering them with my body. I was pressing them to myself and sobbing. Only after reaching the sea did I get rid of the feeling of imminent death".
Huge columns of Russian military equipment were moving towards Mariupol with planes bombing their native city every 10 minutes…
