Indian doctor stays on in Ukraine despite shelling as he refuses to abandon his pets, a panther & jaguar

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An Indian doctor in Ukraine has refused to move out despite the heavy shelling because he does not want to abandon his two pets- a black panther and a jaguar.</p>
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Girikumar Patil, who bought the two cats from the Kyiv zoo about 20 months ago, says he will not leave home without his pets. He has been in Severodonetsk, a small town located in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, for more than six years.</p>
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After the Russian military operation began, Giri has been stepping out of his small basement only to buy food for his cats after the curfew ends early in the morning.</p>
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"My big cats have been spending nights in the basement with me. There has been a lot of bombing happening around us. The cats are scared. They are eating less. I can't leave them," the 40-year-old Patil told BBC.</p>
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Mr Patil said he arrived in Ukraine in 2007 to study medicine. Since 2014, he has been a practising as an orthopaedic and now works in a government hospital in Severodonetsk which was shut after the war began. He said he also does private practice.</p>
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He told<em> BBC</em> that he spent most of his earnings on his pets.</p>
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He said he had been fascinated with big cats ever since he watched his favourite southern Indian film star, Chiranjeevi, in a movie with leopards.</p>
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Patil, who is single, said his parents have been calling him and asking him to come back to India but he cannot leave his pets.</p>
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Dr Patil belongs to Tanuku in Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district. He hopes that the Indian government will allow him to take his pets home.</p>