A veterinarian from a viral video of kittens being saved from flooding in Kherson is continuing to work nonstop on the heartrending rescue work while recovering from severe issues with his own heart.

Shortly after Leonid Stoyanov waded into the floodwaters of Kherson on June 6 to pluck three kittens from near-certain death by drowning, his wife, Valentina, shared a video of the rescue that swiftly went viral.

What tens of millions of people who viewed the heartbreaking video did not know is that as Leonid waded into the chest-deep water on June 6, he was in the midst of his own battle for survival that had literally broken his heart.

Valentina and Leonid Stoyanov are Ukrainian veterinarians who operate under the name Vet Crew. In more peaceful times the husband-and-wife team treated mostly exotic animals. After the Russian invasion was launched in 2022, the pair pivoted to saving whichever creatures needed help, sometimes under fire. Initially that was largely pets left behind in frontline towns as their owners fled the Russian advance.

But the Stoyanovs’ work took on new urgency when the Kakhovka dam was destroyed on June 6.

Valentina told RFE/RL that on the morning the flooding began, she and Leonid were at home in Odesa, around a 200-kilometer drive from Kherson. “[We] woke up from urgent calls from different people. Everyone was talking about the flood, and we saw the news. We immediately packed up and drove there as fast as possible,” Valentina says, adding, “We only thought about how many animals will need help.”

The now famous rescue of the kittens happened almost as soon as the pair arrived in the flooded city of Kherson.

“It was the first five hours after the start of the flood,” Valentina says. “There was still confusion in the city, and even many large rescue services hadn’t had time to arrive there. We started to patrol the streets [by boat], and in one of them we heard the cry of kittens. Leo immediately went to them because they were completely surrounded by water. One kitten almost drowned, but Leo successfully rescued them. All three kittens had stomachs filled with water and were very cold.”

Now, Valentina says, the kittens are “completely safe.”

Over the past several months, she has not been able to say the same about her husband. In August 2022, Leonid had two operations on his heart after it “just stopped,” she says.

Leonid, 35, had a pacemaker installed, but on May 16 he was rushed into intensive care after having another heart attack. Less than three weeks later he was wading through floodwaters to rescue animals, a high-stress job he is continuing, alongside his wife and other volunteers, today.

In a note of thanks to their supporters, Valentina wrote on Instagram of her husband, “I don’t understand where he gets so much strength to get up every time, but I know for sure this man will have many more years of life. Because so many innocent beings NEED HIM, and so many of you BELIEVE IN HIM.”

On June 11, Valentina told RFE/RL she and Leonid and other volunteers had rescued several dogs and cats as well as “two young owls who suffered numerous fractures due to the strong flow of water.”

The pair are unable to say how many animals they have rescued thus far, but many are being sent to friends and supporters of the pair in their hometown of Odesa.

Valentina says, “Now we are working here as a big team, and we are grateful to everyone who helps us and to those who work with us on boats in the flood, and to those who in Odesa who have already accepted evacuated animals.”