Volodymyr Zelensky holding a puppy? For a moment, Ukraine’s wartime president appeared in a setting few would have expected.
But the moment was very real — and carefully resonant. In an unusual meeting of dog lovers, boxing celebrity and the continuing war with Russia, Zelensky appeared in a video Tuesday gently cuddling a floppy, 3-month-old American pit bull terrier presented to him by U.S. former boxer Terence Crawford.
The unexpectedly tender scene inside Zelensky’s Kyiv office became the latest image in a high-stakes contest of symbolism and public messaging that has unfolded alongside Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s devastating four-year invasion.
Crawford, a longtime supporter of Ukraine and an admirer of the American pit bull terrier breed, stepped forward and placed the reddish-yellow puppy in the Ukrainian leader’s arms.
For a few minutes in Kyiv, the weight of geopolitics, war and loss gave way to something softer: puppy love, warmth and a pointed symbol of endurance, loyalty and protection.
A happy, floppy puppy belies a more serious backdrop
There is an old saying in politics: If you want a friend, get a dog. Zelensky, burdened by war and scandal, seemed to find both in the light-eyed puppy nestled against his chest.
The president smiled and murmured into the dog’s fur as he held her. He was told the puppy’s name is Freya — a nod to Freyja, Zelensky’s pet project and Ukraine’s proposed missile defense system being pursued with European allies.
Zelensky was also told that Freya’s grandfather had survived the devastating Russian siege of Bucha in 2022. As cameras clicked, he pulled the puppy close for photos, while she seemed to settle comfortably in his arms, her two white-tipped paws dangling over them.
“The president said he would accept” Freya, said Vadym Danylchenko, adviser to the minister of youth and sports in Ukraine, who helped organize the visit.
Politically and culturally, it might have been problematic to refuse. Animals have become a symbol of the nation’s forbearance during the four-year war. One mural in a Kyiv park immortalizes a Jack Russell terrier named Patrone who is renowned for assisting mine-clearing teams in the northern Chernihiv district and became a mascot for Ukraine’s emergency services. Zelensky awarded him a state medal. UNICEF recognized the pup as the first “Goodwill AmbassaDOG.”
Another mural depicts volunteer fighter Oleksii Movchan, holding a gray-and-white cat. He and three fellow soldiers rescued 11 civilians and the cat in the eastern Donetsk region shortly before being killed by Russian shelling in 2022.
Stories abound of others going to great lengths to rescue Ukraine’s animals during the Russian invasion, including one Ukrainian woman who worked to save hundreds from the war by shipping some to safer western Ukraine and others overseas.
The politics of nations hovers
Then there’s the fraught matter of American support for Ukraine. Zelensky was famously dressed down by U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance last year in the Oval Office, though the leaders have appeared to have mended fences since then. But in Zelensky’s office on Tuesday, an American sports hero was handing him an American dog breed. Zelensky embraced the love.
Freya is the granddaughter of Athos — a dog who survived the Russian brutality in Bucha and was found on the street where Ukrainian forces destroyed a large Russian convoy, Danylchenko told The Associated Press in an interview.
Through rescuers, Athos made his way to Crawford’s friend Francisco Lopez, a professional breeder and longtime Ukraine supporter in America. Athos’ daughter had been left behind in Ukraine. Lopez flew an unrelated male dog to Ukraine to mate with Athos’ daughter. She gave birth to Freya.
The puppy’s name has a particular resonance in Ukraine. European nations are developing the antiballistic missile defense system with Ukraine amid shortages, particularly of American-made Patriot interceptors. Patriot interceptors are in shorter supply as the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran continues to rage, and Trump last month appeared to back away from a recent commitment to give Ukraine a license to produce them.
“Terence really wanted to give the president this particular female puppy,” said Danylchenko, who said he wasn’t initially supportive of giving the president a gift laden with such responsibility.
“They named her Freya. Obviously, from the perspective of our country’s future, this was important,” he added. “This little girl is a symbol of the fact that her grandfather survived and was a direct witness to the events in Bucha. So it was very symbolic for them.”
