About a year ago, as Russians were fleeing the city of Kherson, they took time from their busy schedule of stealing washing machines to also steal zoo animals, including at least one raccoon who would soon become famous as a symbol of Russian propaganda. Well, that animal (named "Hersey") has now gone missing again.

UPDATE: Apparently, the animal is still alive.

Since then, the account was updated with a video of the raccoon at an unspecified location and a post on Monday which said there were "more questions than answers... but the truth will triumph," and that "the main thing is that Hersi is doing well."

Source: New Voice of Ukraine

A year ago, as Russian forces retreated from Kherson in disarray, one soldier attempted to salvage a small victory from defeat by stealing a raccoon from the city zoo.

Since then, the poached pet has become a symbol across social media of the absurdity of Russia's invasion.

But now, in a twist mimicking his country's failures, the kidnapping soldier has discovered his furry trophy was pilfered from him in turn, according to Telegram posts on Oct. 28.

The raccoon was stolen by one of his assistants, named Roman, the soldier reported on the Telegram channel “Raccoon from Kherson,” which the Russians created to manufacture propaganda featuring the stolen animal.

As odd as it sounds, the animal was valuable to the Russian war effort.

The account claimed to have raised over 20 million rubles ($212,000) for Russia's forces, funds which were used to purchase beds, generators and spare parts for vehicles. The animal also inspired children to send letters and drawings for soldiers which boosted morale.

But in what appeared to be a heartfelt Telegram post on Saturday to its more than 78,000 followers, the account of the unnamed milblogger said Hersi had left the scene of the war "without our knowledge" and that for those responsible, "God will be the judge." "Traitors will always be traitors to everyone," added the post which said that the project had ended with "betrayal."

And just why would the animal be taken? The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a respected American non-profit research group and think tank that usually spends its time detailing minute troop movements in Ukraine, speculates that it could be the Russian Ministry of Defense seeking to tighten censorship of military bloggers posting about the war. The raccoon also bit the Russian-installed puppet mayor of Kherson, Volodymyr Saldo.

A Russian VDV-affiliated milblogger announced on October 28 that he was forced to shut down his Telegram channel, implying that unspecified actors abducted the raccoon that the milblogger had been using as a mascot to help gain notoriety and fundraise for Russian forces.[44] The milblogger claimed that the channel generated over 20 million rubles ($212,000) for Russian forces within a year.[45] The raccoon gained fame when Russian forces stole it from a zoo when withdrawing from west (right) bank Kherson Oblast in November 2022.[46] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has increasingly targeted Russian milbloggers in censorship and self-censorship campaigns, and it is possible that MoD-affiliated actors aimed to censor this milblogger.[47] The milblogger claimed that “traitors” abducted the raccoon and left occupied Ukraine and suggested that the milblogger may have personally known who took the animal, however.[48] Ukrainian Kherson Oblast Military Administration Advisor Serhiy Khlan stated that the raccoon had previously attacked Kherson Oblast occupation head Vladimir Saldo and criticized the Russians for losing the raccoon.[49] ISW is unable independently to confirm reports of the raccoon’s whereabouts or actions.

And if all of this sounds absurd (it is), well that's the Russian war in Ukraine. It's not supposed to make sense.

And the bite.