Violence raged in the region, as two lions were stranded at a zoo in Kharkiv.

They have started a new life in the zoo in Odesa, hundreds of kilometres away.

Ihor Beliakov, the manager of the Odesa Zoo, claimed he and his deputy drove to Kharkiv to fetch the lions.

They drove all night to get to Kharkiv.

They loaded the lions into their van, and then drove back to Odesa.

Beliakov said, “The lions were silent during the trip. There were no incidents on the way, we were not shelled, nothing like that.”

The lions are now recovering in Odesa.

“They eat well,” he said.

They’ve been called Mufasa and Nala after characters from “The Lion King.”

The staff at the Kharkiv Eco-Park, indulged heroes for getting so many animals to safety, according to Beliakov.