From the devastating fires in Chile to the conflict-ridden landscapes of Ukraine, cats have provided comfort, hope and glimpses of happiness during difficult and devastating times.
The following collection of photographs shows cats, their owners and their newfound carers, in various conflict and disaster zones during the past two years.
A Palestinian boy, who was displaced by Israel’s military offensive with his family on south Gaza, holds a cat as he attempts to return to his home in north Gaza through an Israeli checkpoint, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip April 15, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed.A woman holds a cat during the evacuation of residents from a flooded residential area in Petropavl, Kazakhstan April 13, 2024. REUTERS/Turar Kazangapov.A cat sits in front of an installation in solidarity with hostages kidnapped on the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, at the Hostages Square, in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 9, 2024. REUTERS/Hannah McKay.Katie Huang, 16, carries her cat Tako, who she found hiding behind a bed while collecting belongings with her family from a damaged building, following the earthquake, in Hualien, Taiwan, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins. A cat is seen among trash, most of which is plastic and domestic waste, on a beach in Teluk fishing village, as high tides brought by erratic weather sweep trash to the shore, in Pandeglang regency, Banten province, Indonesia, March 15, 2024.A woman holds a burned cat following the spread of wildfires in Vina del Mar, Chile February 3, 2024. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido.A cat sits on the shoulder of Ukrainian serviceman Mykyta of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade at a rest house near the front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine, December 25, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter.Veronika Krasevych, an 11-year-old Ukrainian girl, feeds a feral cat near her building destroyed by a Russian military strike in the town of Borodianka, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, February 14, 2023. After her cat got lost during the attack on her building, Veronika comes every day and feeds stray cats in the same place. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich.
