Meet Aza, the cat who lives in an electricity substation destroyed by the Russians

Power engineers have been posting photos of Aza, a cat who lives at a substation destroyed by the Russians.

Ukraine’s national energy company, Ukrenergo, said the cat has been living at the substation for nine years.

Aza was brought to the substation as a kitten in 2014 by an employee who rescued her from some dogs that had chased the terrified animal up a tree.

Aza settled in and chose an armchair in the main building of the substation, where the control panel was located. She was mostly there in winter; in the summer, she hunted mice at the substation.

The cat has been living at the substation for nine years.

The sign reads "working place"

"Aza’s our therapist, she creates a comfortable environment. She’s our mascot and social media star - she’s very friendly and always comes to meet us in the morning. She’s been through a lot with us and has become part of our team," says Oleksandr, the substation relay operator.

Like the substation’s employees, the cat has survived several Russian attacks on energy infrastructure facilities.

On the day of the first strike, Aza disappeared somewhere. She returned a few days later to find the substation building had been destroyed.

"That night, she ran around the destroyed building where her favourite upholstered armchair used to be, meowing loudly, and looked through the broken windows in confusion and despair, pawing the scattered bricks and remnants of the walls. When Aza saw a light in the surviving building, she was happy and ran up to us," Oleksandr recalls.

The substation has been attacked nine times, but Aza has not left her home.

The substation has been attacked nine times, but Aza has not left her home

Now the kitty has a different armchair in another building but at the same substation. Every day she watches how her home is being rebuilt and how she used to hunt mice.

"There is a lot of work to do, because the damage to the substation is unprecedented. But what the eyes fear, the hands do. It’s especially motivating when you realise that this is for our people. We need to rebuild as much as possible before winter," Oleksandr says.

Reminder: Stepan the cat from Kharkiv, who found fame thanks to a blog, asked his beloved Stefaniia to marry him.  

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