A high-profile incident occurred in the Odesa region: the driver and passengers of a commuter minibus forced Natalia Bohdan, the widow of a fallen defender of Ukraine, to leave the vehicle. The reason was that her dachshund, Rasti—her only memento of her heroic husband—did not have a special carrier. Although the dog was behaving calmly, the driver insisted on compliance with the transportation rules, and the passengers began to voice their dissatisfaction, swearing and making threats.
According to “Glavkom,” this incident came to light through a report by “Yedyny Novyny.” Natalia was returning to Odesa from Karolino-Bugaz. She explained that she frequently takes this route with Rasti and had never encountered any problems before.
However, this time the driver refused to continue the trip because she did not have a carrier for the dog. In a video obtained by journalists, passengers can be seen demanding that the woman get off the bus.
“Get off the bus. We need to get going,” says one of the passengers. Natalia tried to explain that Rasti is calm and well-behaved, but the driver insisted on following the rules. In the end, she was forced to leave the bus and take a taxi.
For Natalia, Rasti is more than just a dog. Her husband, Andriy Kochereshko, brought the puppy from the Donetsk region when he was only two months old, and he took him with him to the front lines for three months. The soldier brought him home on leave, and Natalia asked to keep the dog with her. Andriy was killed in 2022 during the fighting near Volnovakha, but he managed to lead his platoon out of the encirclement.
“She became my friend and my child. When my husband passed away, it was as if she was all that remained of him,” Natalia said.
