Ukrainian authorities celebrated the return of the pit bull during a prisoner exchange involving 209 soldiers after the dog was captured 7 months ago and Russian soldiers handed over the dog to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, while Britain’s Daily Mail reported that the Pit Bull “Adik” was guarding smelter in Mariupal when he was captured with his Ukrainian coach last June.
Russian special forces handed over the dog to Colonel Yuri Konatov, who was besieging the Azovstal plant. He took the dog and gave it to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov as a souvenir of Russia’s victory in the field, and the transfer process was documented on video, as the colonel called it an interesting gift.
In a dialogue that took place between Kadyrov and a Russian colonel, the colonel informed the head of Chechnya that the dog’s name was Adolf, but the name was changed to Adidas, and that it was in the catacombs on Azovstal, but taken from a woman during the capture process, so Kadyrov ridiculed this story and the owner of the dog, who promised to return it.
In the development of the issue of captured dogs, it seems that the Ukrainian side in the exchange negotiations insisted on the return of all prisoners, the first of which was a dog. The exchange deal was documented between the released Ukrainian servicemen during their meeting with their families, and among them was the dog Adolf.
According to Ukrainian authorities, the trainer was released along with his dog during the deal. The deal involved the exchange of 82 Russian servicemen for 140 Ukrainian soldiers, including women. Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said via Telegram on Monday that his country had returned the “famous” pit bull as part of a December 31 prisoner swap with Russia. Yermak posted a photo of the dog and said: “We are also restoring the famous Azovstal dog.