Pigs to the slaughter.
An estimated 13,000 swine were horrifically burned to death on a farm in Ukraine, after a Russian drone strike overnight ignited a massive fire that tore through the pen, the country’s emergency service reported.
Graphic photos released show the pig carcasses charred and mutilated at the farm in Novovodolazka, a community in the Kharkiv region, near the eastern border with neighboring Russia.
Most of the pigs on the farm were killed in the Russian drone strike overnight. AP“The destruction is catastrophic,” Oleksandr Kolisnyk, the farm’s director, told Ukraine’s public broadcaster, adding as many as two dozen Russian drones pounded the farm.
“They purposefully beat right at the pigsty,” he said. “For four hours with an interval of 20-40 minutes, they banged on the sheds.”
Eight pig sheds were destroyed in the widespread blaze, which also injured one worker, authorities said.
An estimated 13,000 of the farm’s 15,000 pigs perished in the gruesome blaze. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images“It’s very scary, it can’t be expressed in words,” added Dmytro Yaroshenko, one of the farm’s workers. “A lot has been destroyed.”
Only 2,000 of the farm’s 15,000 pigs survived, with farmers unable to enter the burning sheds and trying to save the swine wherever they could.
The region’s governor has called removing the pigs’ carcasses “a complex process.” Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
32 firefighters responded to the blaze on the farm in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images“There is no justification for this,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry blasted on X. “Russia continues to target civilian infrastructure, including peaceful farms.”
Some 32 firefighters were called to battle the blaze, with Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Synehubov calling the removal of the pig carcasses “a complex process” on Saturday.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine, more than 6 million animals are estimated to have been killed in the war, according to animal rights organization UAnimals.
Animals have been collateral damage of the deadly conflict, with Russian strikes hitting stables and zoos in the past, and others becoming stray after their owners were killed or forced to flee.
